FusionFall: Infinity
by GreenAce
Summary: Throughout his life, Mark couldn't help the feeling that he would become a part of something big. However, he never thought that by taking part in Project Future, he'd end up going through time into the middle of a war against a powerful otherwordly force known as the Fusions. Now in a time when the enemy is close to winning, Mark is determined to do whatever he can to get back.
1. Project Future (Part 1 of 2)

**Hello, all of you awesome people! Today, I shall release of the first of many chapters of a rewrite of my original story. But this is more than just a simple remake. This will not only drastically expand on the story, but it'll be almost a complete retelling, with almost everything different in some way. So if you've read the original story, don't worry about potential spoilers. Only a few things will be crossing over to this version.**

 **Anyway, how about we start?**

* * *

 ** _G - ∞_**

 _And now we begin._

* * *

 ** _Mark - May 28, 2016 - 7:07 AM_**

I see my little brother, Andrew, running in panic from something unknown... a glowing gem... an ocean with a green sky, a glowing man, a green ball with spots of dirt on it... a battlefield... a tree falling over... These images begin to fade out into the green ball being absorbed into a larger green ball with several smaller and different colored balls attached to it. Then suddenly, a pair of glowing red eyes staring directly at me...

I wake up with a loud gasp. My eyes dart around the room for several seconds before I sigh in relief when I realize it was a dream. It's not the first time that I've had a nightmare similar to this. I've been having it since around five days ago when I was waiting to sign up for this experiment designed by Dexlabs called Project Future. I think I dozed off a little, because the next thing I knew, those eyes were staring at me. I have no idea why this dream is taking place, or why I'm having it so much. I wonder if it means something. I believe that in dreams, a falling tree means that you are "tired" or "burned out". Kinda makes sense considering how for the past week or so, I've been studying extensively for my finals before summer. I spent days and days organizing things and taking notes... But it was worth it. I got mostly A's in my finals, and summer has begun.

As I sit up in bed, I turn to the Dexlabs clock on my nightstand. The time is **"7:08 AM"**. "Uh, oh," I accidentally say out loud, because I usually get up at 6:00. And no, it's not because I slept in. It's because Andrew usually gets up at around 7:00 AM most of the time on weekends, and if I end up sleeping in, he runs into my room and jumps on my bed, screaming **"WAKE UP, MARK!"** I don't hate him for it like some other people might, because he's young. He doesn't know any better. His antics can be a bit annoying at times, though, even if well intended. I'm usually fine with it, but there was one time I wasn't, which was about two years ago.

What happened was that Andrew somehow woke up in the middle of the night, at about 3:30 AM. Apparently, there was a "light" coming through the window that led him to believe it was morning already, and he ran to my bed and started his wakeup ritual, and it was **loud.** Now, if this was before Dexlabs had installed that cool, adjustable soundproofing system within the walls of each of the apartments, this wouldn't be a problem. But it wasn't, and so it woke up a ton of our neighbors. Yeah... they weren't happy about it. While my parents apologized to the other residents who were woken up, I put Andrew back to bed, only for him to wake me up again 3 and 1/2 hours later! And so a day of being really tired began. And of course, it had to be on a day where I had a math test. I don't know how I got an B+. I thought for certain that I'd get something lower than a C, at most. I checked the news for that day, and there were strange lights spotted in the sky, in and around the area our apartment/hotel was in. I didn't know what exactly they were, but I have a hunch.

Wait. I hear something. Loud footsteps running down the hallway outside, toward to door to my room. I instinctively roll off my bed to the left, taking the covers with me. I don't know how the door doesn't fly off its hinges: That's how fast Andrew runs into the room, and he does that on a daily basis. The door doesn't fly off this time, though. As I fall, Andrew screams out, **"IT'S SUMMER!"** Once I hit the floor, the air gets blasted out of my lungs. I take a deep breath, when I hear something else hit the floor, I look up and notice that the small mirror on the other nightstand fell. The mirror is in a position where I can see my face. My hair is so messy right now; there are dark blond strands going in every direction.

"Mark?" I hear Andrew ask again. I look to the right and see he's peeking over the side of the bed at me. His scraggly black hair is also going in every direction, just like mine. His emerald green eyes are unnaturally large for an almost 8-year old. He's wearing his favorite pajamas too: his Upgrade pajamas. Green-and-black stripes with the bright green Omnitrix symbol on the chest. Once our gazes meet, he lights up again.

"Yay! Mark!" Andrew says, keeping that smile of his. He's glowing with happiness. "I thought you'd be up earlier because it's summer! IT'S FINALLY SUMMER!"

"Well, I honestly didn't intend to wake up this late, but it's OK!" I say. "Regardless, this is a good way to start the summer, right?"

"Guess you're right! **NOW LET'S WATCH CARTOONS ON THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!"** Andrew says. I get up, Andrew gets off the bed, we brush our teeth, and then we head toward the living room. As we walk down the hallway, our imaginary friend flies toward us. A green cat with bright blue eyes, the ability to levitate with almost zero effort, create or transform into numerous crystalline forms, and think and speak like a human would. In fact, her green fur and relations to crystals are the source of her name: Jade.

I say "our" because while it may seem like Andrew was the one who originally imagined her into existence, she wasn't. I created her when I was around 4 years old, but since kids my age aren't expected to be seen hanging out with imaginary friends, Andrew has recently been saying that Jade is his imaginary friend now. Of course, I don't think Jade belongs to just one person. Jade is pretty much a part of our family now, and she has been for a decade. In fact, I remember when I first met my now best friend, Evan, in preschool, and I wanted to introduce him to Jade, he asked me, "Is she your sister or something?" But now that I think about it, Jade really does feel like a sister to me and Andrew now, and I know he doesn't want to give her up. Thankfully, when he first told Mom about that, she said that she would never do that, but still said we should also have non-imaginary friends, too.

"Good morning, Mark!" Jade says, smiling.

"Oh, by the way, we're watching the cartoons, right? Right?" Andrew asks me. I look down at him and say,

"Of course we are. Why would we not? Oh, and good morning, Jade."

* * *

Every Saturday morning, Andrew, Jade and I head over to the living room, sit on the large couch, turn on the TV and watch the morning cartoons. The cartoons today were very interesting, especially this episode of _Realms._ This was the Season 2 premiere, and what was really interesting was that at the end, Dr. Amalga, the main antagonist, created an evil version of Aura, the protagonist, using the Dimensional Shifter he managed to take from her earlier in the Season 1 finale. Andrew got really hyped at that revelation.

After we finish watching our cartoons, we usually play video games until noon or so. Right now, we're playing _Heroic Battles II_ , where you can play as all sorts of heroes and villains from this world, such as Ben 10, Dexter, the Powerpuff Girls and more. Andrew, Jade and I are currently doing one-on-one battles, and whoever loses, the third person switches with. To shake things up, we are using random character selection. For this battle, Andrew gets Ben 10, which he's really good with. However, I end up getting Fuzzy Lumpkins, which I still don't really know how to use well. So needless to say, I start getting wrecked by Diamondhead, Humungousaur and other aliens in Ben's arsenal.

Just a second or two before Andrew delivers the final blow in the form of Fourarms' **4-Hand Slam** , my phone starts ringing. I pause the game and walk over to the table my phone is on. I look over at the screen, and it says I am getting a call from my best friend, Evan. I press the button named "PROJECTION" on the screen, and almost immediately after I do so, a hologram of Evan appears above the phone, looking toward me.

"Sup, Mark?" Evan says.

"I'm alright," I say. "It's awesome that summer's started."

"Yo, do you want to hang out at Townsville Park?"

"Just you or our other friends?" I ask.

"Uh, everyone, dude. I mean, it's the beginning of summer! We gotta do something cool! That means you're coming, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," I say. "When do you want to meet up?"

Evan shrugs. "I just messaged Amanda and the rest. They said they'd probably all be able to meet at the park at 12:30 to 1:00."

12:30 to 1:00? Uh, what's the time... Oh, it's 12:14 PM. "Alright. Let me just finish this match with Andrew and I'll get ready to go!"

Evan smirks at me. "You guys are playing _Heroic Battles II_ again, aren't you?"

"Uh... yeah, we are," I say. "Alright, I'll see you a moment!"

"Cool. Oh, and by the way, um, I told my viewers that I'd stream most of my day today. Just saying now so you aren't surprised when you get there!"

"Oh, OK! That'll be cool! See ya at the park!" I hang up the call, and the holographic projection fades into nothingness. I turn to Andrew and Jade, who are both looking at me.

"So what's going to happen, are you going to see Evan?" Andrew asks.

"Yeah, I'm going," I say as I walk toward the hallway. "You and Jade can continue playing without a need for time-outs now."

Andrew stares at me, confused. "But what about the match?"

"All you have to do is unpause the game in order to win," I say. It's true, Andrew was literally about to blow my character to bits with Ben's final combo. Andrew picks up my controller and presses "START", and seconds after doing so, Ben 10 wins.

"My turn!" Jade says, before flying to where I had sat previously and picking up the controller with her paws. I head over to my room, which is the second farthest from the end of the hallway. I sit down on the bed and put my socks and hoverboard shoes on, before walking to the closet and opening the doors. I put a white vest on over my green-and-black Upgrade-textured shirt and get my white-and-blue Dexlabs hoverboard. I don't really rush because it's not like all of us will meet at exactly 12:30. I could be there as late as 1:00, because those were the accepted terms. But I'm going to get ready at my own pace, because I have lots of time to spare. Once I know I've got all my stuff, I walk back into the living room, I see that Andrew and Jade have already started another match. I take a peek at what's happening, and I see Ben 10 and Major Glory, the leader of the Justice Friends, fighting on top of Dexlabs. I can't tell who is playing who. Andrew sees me and pauses the game, causing it to freeze around his character, Ben 10. Wow, Andrew got that character twice in a row! I then walk over to Mom, who is across the apartment. Dad had already left to Dexlabs while Andrew, Jade and I were watching cartoons.

"Hey, Mom!" I say. "I'm going to Townsville Park to hang out with my friends, OK?"

"Alright, Mark," Mom says. "Make sure to be careful on your hoverboard."

"Mom, I haven't gotten anywhere close to falling off even once. Dexlabs even said that the odds of dying while using a hoverboard are like, 1 in 150 million, due to all the safety precautions like the magnetic Dextronium that keeps your shoes attached to it, and the spot-on dives and maneuvers the hoverboard makes in the unlikely event the rider does fall off."

"Well, be careful anyway."

I chuckle a bit. "Oh, you and your anxieties, Mom. Don't worry, I'm gonna be fine."

"Bye, Mark!" Andrew says, waving goodbye. Jade does the same with her paw. Once again, I tell Mom that I'll be fine, as I walk toward the large balcony. I flick a small switch on the bottom of my hoverboard, and almost immediately after I do so, the small repulsor engines on both ends activate, as evidenced by the glowing blue light on the bottom and the small humming sound. I then kneel down and hold the hoverboard around a foot off the ground. When I release it, it remains floating in midair. I then step onto it, and take off toward Townsville Park.

Since I've flown around on my hoverboard many, many times, I've basically mastered it. I begin to maneuver southward toward Townsville Park. I don't need the holographic map to get around, because I know the ins and outs of Townsville, from Tech Square all the way to the Sunken Mall. As I go down the street on my hoverboard, I look down at the people below on the streets. I see two people, one with blue hair and the other with pink hair, trying to get their instruments into a building. A red-haired woman talking on the phone, pushing a baby stroller. A kid with brown hair running down the street with his blue imaginary friend. But the most noticeable is this middle-aged man wearing an unusual "steampunk" outfit and a metal hand, staring directly at me from a balcony that's... at my level. I see someone else with him, but I don't pay attention to this other person as I turn onto a street on my right to take another route.

* * *

 ** _12:35 PM_**

The city of Townsville... You always see that in the advertisements to come here. One of the reasons Townsville became so famous, other than being the hub of heroes, was the active volcano in the center of one of its parks. And with the addition of Dexlabs, the Powerpuff Girls, and a few other notable things, Townsville is the most famous city on the planet, followed closely by Bellwood, the home of Ben 10. After flying down the streets on my hoverboard for a minute or two, I come across the large park, and I see the volcano. An observatory is on top of the volcano, home to one of the greatest villains in Townsville, Mojo Jojo.

I look down toward the eastern end of the park, which is closest to me. Almost immediately, I see a person with that familiar brown hair. I can even see his brown eyes from here; that's how noticeable they are. Evan. He's looking at me, waving and calling out "HEY!". The rest of my friends aren't here, though. Evan already has his phone out, streaming everything going on right now. I swoop downward toward him at the speed of a peregrine falcon and pull up feet from the ground. I admit, I'm showing off a little bit, but only because I want to show everyone on the other end of that stream my hoverboard skills. For the umpteenth time.

"Whoa! Hey, Mark!" Evan says as I dismount my hoverboard. I shut down the miniature repulsor engines on the hoverboard, place the hoverboard in my backpack, and walk to Evan. He's wearing a yellow T-shirt with an orange triangle pointing downward on the central part of the chest, blue jeans and orange sneakers. All my other friends aren't there, though.

"Sup?" I say as we high five. I then turn to Evan's phone to say, "Hey, guys!" before turning back to him. "Where's everybody else, by the way, Evan?"

"They're on their way," Evan says before we start conversing. "Hey, have you seen Robot Rebel Ranch 2 yet?"

"No, because I haven't seen the first one. Have you?"

Evan jumps toward me. "Dude, you have to see it! It's, like, AWESOME! There's so much action and battle sequences and... It's just awesome, y'know? Just a note, people! Don't spoil the thing for him, OK?"

I smile. "Well, then, when do you want to see it?"

Evan doesn't say anything for a few moments. "I guess sometime this week. We'll see the first one first, of course. Don't want you to miss out on anything."

"Heh... You know, we could all hang out at one of our places in between now and then to hype ourselves for the second movie, and maybe even have another slumber party. Man, I remember how awesome our slumber parties used to be."

Evan's smile falters, as if I brought up something he didn't like. "Uh... yeah, they were cool," he says as his smile comes back.

"Yeah. I also liked how we themed some of them. I don't think we'll ever be able to top the slumber party before my 13th birthday, when we pretended that a huge zombie apocalypse was happening, though, and how we were trying to stop it."

That's when Evan sighs and looks away from me, and put his face in one of his hands. He's done that every time I bring up the slumber party around my 13th birthday (a bit more than 2 years ago), and I don't understand why. I've asked him about it before, and he keeps putting it off. I don't know why Evan is like this at all.

"What?" I ask, even though I know what Evan will answer next:

"It's nothing."

We suddenly hear a whooshing sound above our heads, hundreds of feet up. We both look up to see a pink streak of light in the sky. Immediately, both of us know that it is Blossom, "commander and the leader" of the Powerpuff Girls. The pink trail fades away, and a blue streak of light follows after it. That is Bubbles, "the joy and the laughter" of the three. Well, what used to be three. Usually, a green trail would follow afterward, but there's none. There's been no green streak for a while now.

"It still hasn't been the same since then," Evan says. He's clearly referring to what happened to Buttercup, the tomboyish, reckless and "toughest fighter" of the Powerpuff Girls. She had disappeared almost 3 months ago, at the hands of Mojo Jojo. Evan and I end up looking toward the tall, megaphone-shaped volcano with the observatory on top of it. I then notice that Evan is clenching his fists. I understand his anger. He had seen the whole spectacle with our own eyes. All my friends and I saw it, and it still gives us chills.

* * *

 ** _March 4, 2016 - 4:31 PM_**

Every Friday after school, our whole group of friends goes to the Game Hive closest to our school. There, we play arcade games until closing, and then fly back home on our hoverboards. We'd do this on so many Fridays that it was basically a tradition for us, but of course if something cooler was happening on Friday after school, we'd be there instead. However, the Game Hive in Pokey Oaks is under renovations right now, so we've been going to the one closer downtown near the Dizzy World amusement park until that one is fixed.

Some time into our visit, the ground begins to shake. Oh, no. This is not good. We look up at one of the numerous TV screens above some of the arcade games, and the main focus is a tall, armored robot attacking the city. Given the large white-and-purple striped helmet that's part of the robot's head, we immediately can tell it's a "Mojo-bot". Right now, it's smashing a Malph's establishment into the ground with its foot. The news cameras then show Mojo moving toward another building. It's a Game Hive. ...The exact building we're in. We don't even have to yell out to start running. Right as we reach the exit doors, I hear metal crack and split as the Mojo-bot starts punching the building into oblivion. We don't even look back.

We keep running for several more minutes until we're absolutely sure that we're far enough away.

towering Mojo-bot is moving away from the ruins of the Game Hive. And we've run a major distance, probably 5 blocks or something. As for the Game Hive, it's been reduced to rubble. The large, rotating bees that are connected to the outer walls of the Hive had fallen and were rolling across the ground.

"Are you guys alright?" I ask. All my friends nod. We then proceed to start calling our parents to let them know we're OK. As I call Mom and Dad, the Mojo-bot moves toward the hovering Slider bus line nearby. It cuts the metal beam in one swift motion, causing most of the machinery keeping that part of the Slider system up to malfunction. There's a Slider bus close to where the Mojo-bot split the beam that starts to tilt and sway. There's a guy in a beanie holding on for dear life, now that the force field usually surrounding the Slider between stations has shut down.

As the Slider begins to fall off of the line, and the person with the beanie can no longer hold on, Bubbles flies toward it. I hear someone on one of the rooftops cheering as Bubbles, in one swift motion, catches everybody on or falling off the Slider and puts them all on the roof of a nearby building. At the same time, Buttercup flies at the Mojo-bot and hits it with enough force to send it flying into a skyscraper. This causes a domino effect with other skyscrapers near it. You could see streaks of pink zooming through the buildings about to fall, in order to rescue the people inside. As the plumes of dust surround the Mojo-bot, we think for a moment that Mojo Jojo has been defeated once again. But the fight isn't over yet, as the Mojo-bot emerges from the dust and smoke, only slightly scratched up.

The Mojo-bot blasts massive missiles out of each of its hands, targeting Blossom and Buttercup. Blossom and Buttercup proceeded to dodge them, as more and more missiles keep coming out of the bot's hands. Explosions take place in the sky as Evan starts recording this. After destroying the missiles, the three Powerpuffs regroup. And out of nowhere, there's a bright light shining out of the Mojo-bot's chest. The light was shining on Blossom, but Buttercup pushes her out of the way, only to get hit by A GIGANTIC FREAKIN' LASER! The blast is so bright it forces me to look away, and when I look back, Buttercup's gone. She's been sent flying out toward the ocean. There's a loud, thunderous bang not long after. That must have been when she hit the water. We don't know what to do or say. Did Buttercup just... What happened?

Blossom and Bubbles immediately turn around and punch the Mojo-bot like crazy. My friends and I are just standing there, speechless. We're not even doing the funny reactions that we normally do, like when Buttercup punches a bad guy in the face and we all go **"OHHHH!"** No. We're just watching as pink and blue send the Mojo-bot everywhere. They break it apart really easily, but Bubbles keeps going all-out. You can hear the rage in every one of her screams. Bubbles then flies right through the Mojo-bot's neck, sending the head flying really close to us. We instinctively run to the left, and thankfully it misses us and breaks all over the ground behind us. We see Mojo fly out and slide across the concrete. We end up running to around half a block away from where Mojo is, so that we can see what goes down next. Bubbles then shows up, and we can feel the anger coming off of her. Mojo tries to run, but Bubbles grabs him and throws him super fast into the nearby wall. She zooms up to him, throws him on the ground, zooms at him again and starts punching him over and over again, without hesitation. Without mercy.

Blossom flies up and yells at Bubbles to stop, but Bubbles is having none of it. She keeps punching and punching, and she doesn't stop. Blossom grabs her and tries to pull her away, but Bubbles blasts her back with her laser eyes. She then looks down to Mojo and is about to blast lasers directly into his face.

"S-stop..." I end up thinking out loud. I don't say it that loudly, though, but Bubbles must hear it due to her super-hearing, because she immediately stops, and the glow from her eyes goes away. She looks up at us and she must be realizing what she's doing is wrong, because she starts to calm down a bit. She looks back at Mojo and his messed-up face. Man... Bubbles really didn't hold anything back. Bubbles suddenly starts winding another punch, and we all momentarily get scared, but she deliberately misses and punches the ground right next to Mojo's head. She gets up, then just floats away. Then we hear the crying. Whenever Bubbles cries, we all feel sad too. A grown man would be affected by Bubbles crying.

The police then showed up and took Mojo in for the umpteenth time. He'll probably just break out a few days later, though, like he always does. But it turns out he wouldn't for at least a month, and when he did get out, he didn't bother to commit any crime since. The Mayor of Townsville then sent out search parties around the world to try to find Buttercup, especially in the spot of the ocean she was estimated to have landed. However, the search parties found absolutely nothing, not even a trace. Blossom, Bubbles and their father, Professor Utonium, tried to deny that she could be dead, claiming that she had survived much worse. But if Buttercup did survive, why would she not reveal herself to her grieving father and sisters? Over the months, there has been nothing to confirm her being alive, but also nothing to deconfirm it either. So maybe, just maybe, she'll come back. When exactly that happens, I don't know.

* * *

 ** _Mark - May 28, 2016 - 12:47 PM_**

"HEY!" Evan suddenly yells, startling me and completely wrecking my train of thought. I turn to Evan, and see he's looking down one of the paths that extend through the park. Walking toward us are our five other friends: John, Lucas, Chris, Aidan and Amanda.

John's wearing simple, casual clothing, such as a plain black T-shirt, blue jeans, and shoes. It looks like Lucas and Chris were trying to pull another one of their "twin pranks" earlier, because they're wearing the same exact clothes: a black-and-white striped shirt with a skull on the front, black pants, and purple shoes. Aidan's got on a Heatblast T-shirt (dark red with yellow intersecting lines to mimic magma about to seep through the cracks between volcanic rock), orange jeans, and red shoes, and Amanda's got a custom-made hoodie which is purple with the lavender outline of a cat's face on the back. purple jeans and white-and-purple hightops.

 _And now that we're all here, everything feels better._

"Hey, guys! How's it goin'?" Evan says as he fist-bumps Aidan and Chris, before high-fiving Lucas. I high-five Amanda and fist-bump John. After more exchanges of "Hey!"s, and "How's it going?"s, Evan says to the viewers on his stream: "Well, all our friends are here now! Say hi, everybody!" After everyone says "Hi" or "Hey" to Evan's phone, Chris says to Evan and me:

"Well, what were you guys talking about?"

I respond, "We were just talking about things, like when I'm going to see Robot Rebel Ranch and its-"

 **"YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THE SECOND ONE!"** Aidan screams, startling most of us. He jumps in front of me with a wide grin. " **IT IS SO COOL!** Like, the space travelers are tracked by the aliens to their homeworld and-"

"Aidan, please don't spoil it for him," Amanda says sternly. She really doesn't like it when people try to spoil movies for, well, anyone. "You haven't seen those movies, right, Mark?"

"No, I haven't," I say. "Evan and I were just talking about when I was going to."

"We could all hang out at one of our places sometime tonight or tomorrow, and you could see the first one then," John says. "Oh, and then we could go to the movie theater the next day to see the second one."

"I think tomorrow would be better, in all honesty," I say. "But whose house will we go to?"

Chris shrugs. "Well, I would say that we would watch it at your place, Mark, because your living room has the most space, but Andrew and Jade are there and the movie is, well, pretty crazy at some points. I don't know."

"Well, Jade isn't as much of a concern as Andrew is. I could convince my parents to bring Andrew somewhere, like maybe drive around Townsville to see if they can get him to at least see a day-saving by one of the superheroes," I say. "You know how much he fanboys out when he even sees Ben 10 or the Powerpuff Girls." My friends chuckle at this. They all know how hyper Andrew gets when he gets the chance to interact with super-famous heroes. Whenever I get home from school, he asks me to tell him everything about what happened that involved the Powerpuff Girls. Even if it's nothing special, he wants to know. He really looks up to them, which is why he was so devastated when Buttercup disappeared. But even then, his favorite is Bubbles. Their personalities match really, really well.

"That can work," Amanda says about my idea. "So... what do you guys wanna talk about?"

* * *

 ** _1:51 PM_**

Over the next 45 minutes to an hour, we talk about the most recent events for a while and watch the newest viral videos and compilations. The craziest video was one where this guy thought it was a good idea to mess with Brick and Butch of the Rowdyruff Boys, who are evil versions of the Powerpuff Girls. It's fairly obvious what happened next. At one point during our hangout, we actually had seen Mojo Jojo leave the volcano to do a few things that weren't related to world domination. I don't know how nobody gets scared. Maybe it's because they know he's in what we call "Civilian Mode"? Not sure. Anyway, after that, we all decide to go to the large ice cream shop near Townsville Park, which has the largest variety of ice cream I have ever seen in my life. Ever since we were kids, we absolutely loved ice cream, and we still do. On the way to the place, a Dexbot wheels near us, and looks at us for a few seconds before continuing on its way. Weird. I wonder what it was doing.

Once we get to the ice cream shop, one of the kids leaving accidentally drops his strawberry-vanilla double scoop cone and starts crying. Evan jumps to the front of the line as we all get our favorite flavors. Evan gets vanilla and a strawberry-vanilla double scoop for the crying kid, John gets chocolate, Chris gets coffee, Lucas gets cookie dough, Aidan gets chocolate chip, Amanda gets mint chocolate chip and I get strawberry. Of course, we have our ice cream in cones. We sit down at one of the many tables where customers are allowed to eat their ice cream. As we eat our ice cream, we talk about more recent events.

The thing that took up the last bit of our discussion at the park and is still taking up the discussion at the ice cream shop was based around one of the most popular bands in Townsville, the Gangreen Gang. Lucas is a huge fan of this band, and is probably a member of all these online groups that love those guys. Lucas told us about how there was a new member to the band, and that her stage name is reportedly "BellaDonna", though her actual name is unknown. When we saw the photos of her, John pointed out she looked kinda like Buttercup, and when I checked the photos, there definitely was a resemblance. But there was one flaw in John's theory: If Buttercup was indeed alive, why would she completely ignore her sisters and join a rock band, the members of which were once their enemies? That's why most of us consider it to be a simple coincidence. If someone looks the right way and dresses correctly, someone could look very similar to Buttercup. I remember that many years ago, Amanda had dressed up as Bubbles for Halloween. She was so good at making herself look like Bubbles that little toddlers ran after her, thinking they were looking at the real Bubbles. I'm sure Andrew would have done the same if he was none the wiser.

After we finish our ice cream cones, we get ready to leave. Evan looks to his phone after not doing so for a few minutes, and when he does so, he says, "Guys, everyone on the stream is saying to check the news right now!"

"On it!" Aidan says, getting his Dexpad out. After booting up the pad and accessing one of the news websites, he leans back a bit. "Whoa, this is interesting!"

"Well, what is it?" Lucas asks.

After Aidan clicks on the screen again, presumably to access the news article, he says, "It's something about-" before stopping. Actually, he's literally frozen, and his eyes have become wider than anything I've ever seen. If you were to snap your fingers in front of him right now, he wouldn't even flinch. What would make him freeze like that?

"Aidan?" I ask, but he still doesn't move. John, who's next to Aidan, looks over to see the Dexpad's screen, and he freezes in a manner similar to Aidan.

"Mark?" John says. "You'll want to see this..."

I get out of my chair and walk over to John and Aidan to see what all the fuss is about. On the screen, I see the bold headline for a news article, saying **_"Dexlabs Announces First Candidate For Project Future"._** Wow, that's pretty fast! It's only been a week since people were able to volunteer. Maybe a volunteer is selected per week? I don't know, so I start reading the article.

* * *

 _"TOWNSVILLE - After a week of speculation by the public, Dexlabs has announced that the first volunteer for their Project Future demonstrations has been selected. Mark Emeron, the son of Dexlabs assistant Luis Emeron, has been chosen to be the first Project Future candidate. Dexter's output on the reason behind this choosing is currently unknown._

 _Project Future is the newest endeavor from Dexlabs, with its demonstrations designed to send test candidates through a portal in Space-Time. "The purposes of these experiments are not to send anyone into the far future in order to see what future civilization might be like, or send people into the past to see history first-hand," Dexter said about the goal of the project. "When a portal in Space-Time is made, strange things may happen visibly, but on the quantum level, even stranger and more complicated events take place, so complicated that we would be here for days talking about it. Not only do we hope to show you that we can create Space-Time rifts, we can capture these events in order to learn more about them and be able to detect Space-Time anomalies faster. Also, being able to harness these rifts would allow for much faster travel, whether it be on the local, interplanetary or interstellar travel. For instance, instead of having to travel at the speed of light for several years to reach Proxima Centauri (the nearest star to our own Sun), we could merely create a stable rift to take us there in moments. Of course, we won't be seeing that for years, but these experiments will eventually lead to that."_

 _Mark will reportedly travel through time later this afternoon. People will be able to volunteer for Project Future until June 3, after which the rest of the volunteers will be chosen for the coming weeks."_

* * *

That was as far as I needed to read in order to know what was going on: I'd been chosen by Dexter himself to be the first candidate for Project Future. I don't know exactly why he would pick me over the other hundreds of candidates who applied. Maybe he assigned a number to each of the candidates and used a random number picker to determine the order, and I somehow came out first. Whatever the case is, I don't think I'll ever know. Dexlabs is able to hide things very well. We didn't originally know why the company had gone silent for a little while until Project Future was released. I lean back, unable to make any facial expressions but shock and confusion.

"What's going on?" Evan says, confused. "Wha- what happened?"

"Mark! It... you... You were picked!" Aidan stutters. I notice he still hasn't blinked. "For... for Project Future!"

The entire ice cream shop goes completely silent, so much so you could hear a fly from the other side of the room. I zone out of reality as I realize: I'll be going through time today. This is like one of those contests where you hope to win, but don't actually expect to. I turn to Evan and see he is smiling widely. I feel someone pat me on the back, and I turn to see it's Amanda, who is smiling just like Evan. Aidan and John are looking at each other, and Lucas and Chris are smirking at me. Other kids in the ice cream shop are either looking at us in confusion and shock or checking the same news website that Aidan checked.

"That... that's AWESOME!" Evan says loudly, and the entire place erupts into loud conversations of speculation, excitement and more.

"You're gonna be in a time machine..." Lucas says. "You lucky dude..."

"You'll be taking part in revolutionizing science!" says Chris. "That's... well, Evan, you already said it: it's awesome!"

My phone rings. I reach into my pocket and take it out. It says I'm getting a call from someone named "Dexter". Now, the one person I know with that name is Dexter, the founder of Dexlabs. Dexter is extremely brilliant, and when I say "brilliant", that is a huge understatement. Since Dexlabs was first built in Technology Square, he advanced our technology by what experts originally thought would take decades, in less than three years! To add insult to injury, Dexter is my age!

After I see Dexter's name on the screen of my phone, my eyes become as wide as Aidan's was before, if not wider. Evan notices this, too, and says, "Guys! I think Dexter's calling Mark!" Immediately after Evan says that, the entire ice cream shop becomes silent once again. I can feel the eyes of many, many people trained on me as I move my finger to the "PROJECTION" button. I press it, and a hologram of Dexter flickers in. Like Evan's brown hair, Dexter's orange hair is distinctive on the hologram. He's also wearing his iconic white lab coat with yellow buttons and purple gloves. Once Dexter's hologram shows up, everyone focuses on it.

"Hello, Mark!" Dexter says. "It is I, Dexter. Do you know why I am calling you?"

"Aidan showed me the news article," I stutter, trying to comprehend that I'm calling the greatest genius of my generation. "I'm going through your time travel experiment."

Dexter smiles. "Your friend is fast at figuring things out. But that's not the only reason that I'm here. I would also like to thank you for volunteering for Project Future. This experiment has been the most difficult undertaking I have ever done in recent memory, but now, at last, my greatest creation is finally complete! But of course, in order for my time capsule to actually mean anything, I will need you within it!"

"So you're going to bring me to Dexlabs?"

"Precisely!" Dexter says. He's sounding really confident about this experiment. I just hope it won't fall to one of those "malfunctions of unknown cause", but according to Dexter, it sounds like that will not be the case. "I have sent a Dexlabs hover-limousine to your current location. It's already picked up your mother, little brother and his imaginary friend. I would come too, but I have an interview coming up in a few minutes, and I need to remain here for it. Don't worry about what news channel to pick. I shall be doing one with most of the main news channels simultaneously."

"Hey, can we come?" Amanda suddenly asks Dexter. Dexter's hologram turns to face her, and after a short silence, he says:

"Very well. We can interview any of you afterward, as we could use your perspectives to promote Project Future. The hover-limousine should be arriving in a few seconds."

"Alright then," I say.

"See you very soon," Dexter says before he hangs up the call. I look up at my friends, who are looking at me with even more amazement than before Dexter called me. I look at other kids in the ice cream shop and they also have that same expression. I'm not given much time to comprehend it because I see something move in my peripheral vision outside the window. I turn toward the window and see that a Dexlabs hover-limo is landing near the ice cream shop.

"That's our ride!" I say as I stand up, and my friends all look toward the window. They stand up the moment they see the hover-limo and walk to the exit. As we exit the shop, I look through the side windows of the hover-limo and see that Jade is sitting inside. Several of the side doors open moments after, allowing us to enter. When I see Andrew and Mom look at me with smiles on their faces, I sit in the row of seats they are on. Everyone else sits in the rows behind us.

"Hi, Mark!" Andrew says. "Dad told me you're going to go through time!"

"Yep," I say to Andrew, who smiles even wider. "Don't know how far, though. They'll probably tell me when we get to Dexlabs."

That's when I feel the hover-limo rise higher into the air and start moving down the street. A Dexbot is piloting the hovercar. Dexbots are Dexter's other robotic assistants and the main workforce of Dexlabs. The Dexbot turns to us, and asks us, "Would you like to watch anything?"

"Just pick any news channel," Lucas says. The Dexbot activates all the TVs on that channel, and right when the TV activates, I hear the triumphant music that usually shows up before a report. After the short bit of music stops, the alien newscaster that is Will Harangue appears on the screen. Yes, alien. He was once human, but apparently something turned him into an alien. I remember how his ratings skyrocketed when he revealed his new form.

"This is Will Harangue, and you are watching the Will Harangue Nation!" Will says. The text on the bottom of the screen says **"SPECIAL REPORT"**. Before he can even continue speaking, I already know what this is going to be about: Dexlabs, Project Future, and me.


	2. Project Future (Part 2 of 2)

**_Mark - June 2, 2010 - 6:02 PM_**

Going to Bravo Beach is a good way to start off the summer. It would have been an even better start, but not many of my friends were able to this time. Well, we'll probably come back here again in a couple weeks, so it's not a huge loss. Even without them, it's super fun. Jade and I have been having a blast so far. We've already done the entire list of whatever you could do at this huge beach: We've played in the water, built sand castles just to watch them get destroyed by the tides, explored the huge sandcastle that was built at one of the far ends, ran around in the sand, etc. We had a whole itinerary planned, and we didn't take long to fulfill it. While this was going on, my parents were watching with Andrew. They didn't do much with us because just watching us run around made them tired.

The sun is getting lower and lower in the sky, making it glow orange and red. I have a feeling that we're going to head home soon, because I glance at Mom and Dad, and they're starting to pack up their stuff. Then something else catches my eye. The sandcastle Jade and I built a few minutes ago, the one that we accidentally made a little bit too far from the water, has a strange green glimmer coming from within it.

"Jade?" I ask. "Did you put anything in our sand castle?"

"No, I didn't," Jade says, confused. I wade through the water back to the sandy beach to figure out what whatever's in our sand castle is. Jade, of course, simply levitates to the castle and looks into the space the four walls surrounded.

"Hey, there's something in here!" Jade says before turning to my parents. "Hey! Take a look at this!"

My parents walk over to the sand castle as I finally get out of the water. Jade dives into the castle, and sand starts spewing upward and forming a sand pile outside it. She's digging for whatever is in there. Once I get to our sandcastle, she comes back up with a large green crystal in her paws. An emerald. At least, it looks like one.

"Well, what did you guys find here?" Dad says as Jade puts the emerald in my hands. I have nothing to compare its size to, but I know it's pretty big. It's so shiny, too. It's not long until I notice weird markings etched into the emerald's surface. One marking is a simple stick figure shape. Another says, "Fulfilling Time's Purpose". Another side has four simple words, but are much bigger and deeper marked than the rest: **"I AM THE GUARDIAN"**. The last marking that I see is an arrow. It's currently facing left, or in my case, the east. But what makes me feel weirded out is a word above that arrow: "Look..." Of course, I look in the direction the arrow is pointing, and for a split-second, on the sandy hills, I see a bright light on the hill, but before I can alert my parents to it, it disappears.

My mom and dad were interested in this crystal, and what exactly the messages meant. They even wondered if some sort of prank was going on. But me? I figured out exactly what this meant. If I am correct in assuming, I've already seen this "Guardian"... several times, already. The day of Mojo's attack on Townsville. The day Andrew was born. And even more times after that. That being made of light... "The Guardian" may be him... Who knows...

* * *

 ** _Mark - May 28, 2016 - 1:54 PM_**

The buildings fly past as the hovercar maneuvers slightly above the street. Skyscraper, skyscraper, office building, skyscraper, it goes on and on and on for miles. Townsville is a huge city, and when you add in all the other cities almost right next to it, it's even bigger; there's so much to see and do that someone vacationing here could constantly go around for weeks and not be able to see a fraction of all the cool stuff you can do in this part of the world.

"To begin our special report, Dexlabs has recently provided insight about Project Future," Will Harangue says. "Dexlabs has released the first candidate for Project Future, and that candidate's name is Mark Emeron."

A picture of me appears in the box at the top-left portion of the screen. I'm facing to the right of whoever took the picture, and some of my friends are visible, specifically Chris and Amanda. I know what that Dexbot was doing when we were going to the ice cream shop from Townsville Park now. It took a picture of me, and I can prove that picture is from today because Chris, Amanda and I are wearing the exact same clothes right now as in the picture, as well.

Will then says he's going to enter the interview between Dexter and the other news hosts, but apparently Dexter isn't allowing him in. That actually makes a whole lot of sense, because as everyone who watches News3 knows, Will Harangue absolutely LOVES to cause controversy. If controversy were to come from a singular point in space, that point would be Will. I mean, his last name (at least as far as we know) is Harangue, so it's not that surprising. He constantly vilifies Ben 10, and he even has a book series titled **"Ben 10: Threat or Menace?"**. I've never bought any of them, of course.

"Hey, um, can we switch to one of the channels with the interview?" Amanda asks. The Dexbot complies and switches to another channel. This shows an interview between Dexter and several other news hosts (which are far more credible than Will, in my opinion). We can see Dexter inside the expansive main lobby, which has all sorts of things to look at. And I assume the time machine's in there, too. We got to the channel just in time to hear one of the interviewers ask Dexter:

"As for the time travel itself, how far into the future will Mark go, exactly?"

Dexter says, "From what we are planning, he will show up only a few hours later. At the most, it will only be a day. Of course, you can't control all of time travel's countless variables, which is why I have listed such a large range of possible times for him to end up in."

"When can we expect the experiment to begin?"

"If everything goes well, it may be as soon as 15 minutes from now. But you will know when it is ready."

I take my eyes off of the TV and look outside the window again. Now I can definitely tell we're closer to Tech Square. This is confirmed when I see the **DexHotel** , the building my family lives in. Although, it's not really just a hotel. It certainly does have a lot of hotel rooms, but it's got a whole section for apartments as well. In fact, I think the full name is the **Technology Square Hotel and Apartment Complex** , which we first nicknamed to be "TechShack", but since that sounds too much like a store, we just call it the DexHotel.

We then see Dexlabs, in all its glory. The hover-limousine starts to hover upward until we've reached the outer top levels of the building. And then I see the large crowd of people that goes as far back as the water fountain in the middle of Tech Square, which is pretty far from the street. They're looking at us, pointing cameras, both photo and video, at our limo.

"That's a lot of people!" Evan says from behind me, as the hovercar lowers onto the street. Once we land on the asphalt and the doors begin to open, we are bombarded with the aggregated noise of dozens- no, hundreds of people talking. The clicking of dozens and dozens of cameras is almost completely lost by all the people talking. Dexbots line themselves along the ramp up the entrance doors, so that we won't be smothered by all the paparazzi. Still doesn't stop the camera flashes and talking from being irritating. I can hear people saying things like, "It's Mark!", "Mark's here!" and even "Get a picture, quickly!"

That's when he walks out of the entrance door. Dexter. But he's not alone. Computress, his robotic assistant, is hovering alongside him. She- if you can even call it a "she"- is holding her iconic holographic clipboard. She floats down the small stairway on the small circular hover-platform she is on top of. Once Dexter and Computress appear on the scene, the noise gets louder, like a rock concert just started next to my ears. I cover them really quickly, and everyone else does as well. Dexter notices this and signals for us to come inside, into the lobby. As we walk up the ramp, the Dexbots close in on us, maintaining a barrier. Once we enter the doors, I can finally uncover my ears, though the ringing still remains.

"Well, now that you can actually hear me, I would like to welcome you back to Dexlabs," Dexter says. I look over at Andrew, and he looks so excited that if there was no gravity in this room, he would probably have gone to every single corner of it. Even then, he seems to bounce off the walls even when there is gravity; that's how excited he gets. He is also wielding one of the widest smiles I've ever seen. "I would also like to thank you again, in person this time, for volunteering for Project Future-"

 **"PLEASE, PLEASE, _PLEASE_ SIGN HIS HOVERBOARD!"** Andrew yells to Dexter, startling everyone in the room. Andrew runs behind me, unzips my backpack, takes the hoverboard out and runs to Dexter with it. Andrew jumps up over and over again asking for Dexter to sign my hoverboard. Dexter can't help but chuckle. That's a very great trait about Andrew: he's able to cheer you up even if you are more depressed than you have ever been in your life. This, in turn, causes Andrew to get even happier and more excited, resulting in a positive feedback loop of happiness.

"Very well," Dexter says, before he takes out a pen from a pocket in his lab coat as if he was prepared for something like this. This must happen a lot to him. I'm not that surprised, honestly. After he finishes writing on the side of the hoverboard, he hands it back to Andrew, who is beaming with excitement right now. Sometimes it seems like he's so happy he starts glowing, but that's just me. Not even a nanosecond after Andrew gets the hoverboard back, he runs to me and puts it in my hands. I immediately notice Dexter's signature on the side.

"Dude, you... you're going to be so popular when school starts again," Lucas says, looking at the signature.

"Now, as I was saying, I also would like to thank you in person for volunteering for Project Future," Dexter continues. "It took us a lot of time to create the necessary components for the time capsule, as well as calculate the special formulas for certain parts of it. It took us weeks to make something that could actually create a stable wormhole."

"Wormhole?" Andrew asks me.

"Portal," I say, simplifying the word for Andrew. I don't blame him, he won't learn about the physics of wormholes until around high school. By the time he even enters his freshman year at high school, I will be in my junior year of college. Of course, that's assuming I start going to college immediately after I finish high school, which is very likely.

"Then there were the issues of finding a way to get it to actually bring the subject to the time we want," Dexter continues. "But we discovered that the more energy we inputted into the machine, the farther ahead or back in time the subject will travel. Of course, we can't control it to the second. But don't worry, Mark. We can ensure your safety. But we won't get anywhere by standing here and talking, so why don't we all go to the Experimental Chamber now?"

Dexter and Computress lead us to the far end of the lobby, where a Dexbot is stationed at a desk. As we walk, I turn to the left and see a cabinet full of devices Dexter has made, protected by glass and a force field. I've seen this every time I've gone in and out of Dexlabs during "Bring your Kids to Work Day" and almost every time, there is usually a different group of inventions in there. Right now, there's some sort of prototype of the original hovercar engine, a small cube-shaped thing with blue edges that is called an "Energy Cube", and more. We arrive at the desk, and the Dexbot receptionist behind it looks up at Dexter and Computress. It immediately recognizes them.

"What can I do for you, Dexter? Computress?" the Dexbot asks.

"Seal the entrance doors," Computress says. "Don't let the people out there inside."

The Dexbot nods and says, "O-Of course." I turn around to see what happens to the doors, and a force field appears on both sides of it, almost completely silencing any noise that there was. The paparazzi outside are still as persistent as ever to get as much footage of me as possible. Creepy much? As we turn left of the front desk and follow Dexter and Computress through the numerous hallways, I think about what's going to happen when I'm sent through time. Will it be a flash of light and just like that, I'm in the future? Will I even notice anything at all? Will the time machine go through a portal? Honestly, I'll know in around ten or fifteen minutes, but it doesn't hurt to guess what will happen.

After walking through multiple hallways and going down a super-fast elevator, we arrive at the Lower-Level Experimental Floors. The hallways here are a little bit taller and wider than before, so now it's no longer as crowded. It's not long until we see Dad down the hall, with several Dexbots and Lab Assistants behind him. Dad looks like a lot like an older Andrew, except his black hair is a lot more ordered, while Andrew's is all over the place. Andrew obviously didn't get his more serious personality, though. I was the one who got that. Well, I got a mix of Mom's and Dad's. I can be fun and bright, but will be serious if need be.

"Dad!" Andrew says, running into his arms. Andrew runs to Dad with enough speed to knock Dad back a bit.

"Careful! Careful, Andrew!" Dad says as he tries to maintain his balance. "You don't want to knock me over!" I walk up to him.

"So... I'm going through time... apparently," I say. This is crazy. One hour ago, I was hanging out with my friends. Now, I'm inside the top secret levels of the greatest science company in the world, about to go through one of the possibly most important science experiments in history. It's hard to comprehend. I once again pinch my arm. Yep, still not dreaming unless the dream has made me think I'm feeling pain.

"You don't need to worry, Mark," Dad says. "Dexter has made sure you'll be safe."

"I've already been told that, Dad."

"Just to be sure..."

After walking through more large hallways, Dexter suddenly stops, but the people at the back of the small crowd don't realize it until a second afterward, causing everyone in the back to bump into the people at the front, nearly causing a domino effect. After I almost fall over from John and Aidan bumping into me, I look up. There's a door with a large sign on top, which says **"EXPERIMENTAL CHAMBERS: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY"**. It must be important because I notice that there are two three-headed robotic dogs guarding the door on either side, watching us like hawks. Once they see Dexter, they stop looking at us so much and continue looking straight ahead. The time machine surely couldn't have been the only thing Dexter was making. I don't remember seeing these the last time I went to Dexlabs.

Dexter walks to a nearby scanner and scans his eyes, voice, and fingerprints. I wonder why Dexter has all these defenses. What could possibly break into the building and get this far? Once the scanner recognizes Dexter, the door opens almost instantly. After walking through a long hallway for at least a minute, we take a sharp left. There's a door saying **"MAIN EXPERIMENTAL CHAMBER"**. Dexter opens the door by using yet another retinal, voice and fingerprint scanner. The door slides open not long afterward, revealing the massive chamber.

My friends, Andrew and I stand there, aghast at how large the chamber is. It's so large that you could fit my family's entire apartment inside of it and still feel comfortable. Obviously, these chambers aren't for single experiments; Dexter could run several experiments at once in here. That's when I see it, in the center of the room. The time machine. It has a nearly spherical shape (except its flat base, of course; a spherical base wouldn't make much sense), and it has two antennae sticking out of the top. Every so often, I can see a bolt of electricity zap from one antenna to the other. There is a large metallic ring-like shape that circles around the time machine, which attaches all the pipes to it. These pipes are coming out of the walls, from the central observation room, and other places. There are no visible control panels around the time machine. They're probably all holographic, although there is a manual one in the far back of the room that's connected to the time machine. Maybe that's in the event of a premature power failure.

We walk down a ramp to the floor of the main chamber, and I can get a better view of the time machine. It has the main colors of Dexlabs on it: blue, green and white. The Dexlabs logo is on the top of the ring, and I can see the end of the "s" in Dexlabs curving around from the back. There's a circular light in the ceiling of the inside of the machine as well.

"Before you enter the time capsule, Mark, there is something you will need," Dexter says. He signals to a nearby Dexbot, which has the Dexlabs "d" emblazoned on its chestplate like all Dexbots. Dexter then points to a table with several devices on it. The Dexbot wheels over to the table, grabs a blue device similar to a watch, and wheels over to me. "You'll need to put this device on first before entering the time capsule," Dexter says as the Dexbot hands me the gadget. I put it on my left wrist, and it snaps around and adjusts to fit me.

"What exactly is this?" I ask.

"It's your communicator," Computress says. "Once you arrive in the future, the communicator will immediately notify me that the time travel has been completed. In case you do not appear inside Dexlabs, the odds of which are extremely unlikely, the device will send out a distress signal that any Dexbot or Dexlabs drone in a 1-mile radius will be able to receive. If no notification of retrieval is shown, the communicator will send out another message of a larger radius. The distress signal will state your exact coordinates, and will continue to send it out approximately every few minutes until we can retrieve you. This, of course, is in case things go awry, the odds of which are, again, very unlikely."

Two Dexbots come from the group of Dexbots on the left side of the room and wheel toward the entrance of the time machine, holding a stepladder. After placing that stepladder in front of the time machine's entrance, they stay there and hold it in place so it doesn't slip. The glass barrier covering the entrance to the time machine slowly rotates upward and away from it until it's parallel to the floor. Knowing it's time for me to enter the time machine, I walk toward the stepladder. Midway through doing so, I stop moving and look to Mom, Dad, Andrew, Jade and all my friends.

"I'll be back soon," I say, before I walk up the stepladder to the very entrance of the time machine, However, as I'm about to step inside, I'm hit by a strong mix of nervousness and hesitation. I've felt this feeling before. That feeling when you're so close to accomplishing a goal, that you are just about to do what you planned to do, but at the last minute, you feel afraid or scared to complete it, leaving you stuck in perpetual doubt and uncertainty until you make a final decision, which is usually turning away, making you feel like a scaredy-cat and a wimp. I think Dexter notices this, because he says, "You can take your time, Mark. I will not rush you." After that, the feeling of hesitation dissipates as I realize that I've come so far already. I'm standing in the experimental levels of Dexlabs, only one step away from entering a time machine, which could potentially revolutionize science and the world. I certainly won't get another opportunity like this again. Because of this, I force myself to walk inside the time capsule. Once the glass barrier lowers downward to block the entrance, I know there's no going back. If the time machine was a black hole, I just crossed the event horizon.

I turn around to see that surrounding the glass barrier in a circle are twelve delicately painted green squares. Each square has a Roman numeral on it, from 1 to 12. Clever... it's like a clock. The Roman numerals for the numbers are all in the appropriate spots for a clock, with XII being at the top, VI being on the bottom, and so on. I'm surprised Dexter thought of putting all this aesthetic detail on the time machine. The light in the ceiling is at the perfect level of brightness to illuminate the inside of the time machine, and not reflect so much off the metal that it's difficult to see inside. With nothing else to do now, I sit down and get ready. The Dexbots that were holding the stepladder in place wheel away, and Dexter walks over to me. Well, the machine I'm in.

"Mark?" Dexter asks, the sound being quieted a little bit by the glass. He knocks on it. "Can you hear me in there at all?"

"Yeah, I can hear you," I say.

"Good, good," Dexter says, before walking backward a few steps. He activates a holographic control panel, with so many options on it I don't even bother looking at it. "Let's begin."

The time machine begins to emanate a deep, humming sound. It must be entering its startup sequence. I look over at Evan, Amanda, my other friends, Andrew, Jade, my parents. They all look happy that I'm able to do this, to take part in Project Future, but they also look a bit nervous too. Evan is pointing his Dexphone at me inside the time machine, streaming what's happening right now. He's been streaming everything, even after me initially discovering that I was chosen from Project Future. A Dexbot starts going to Evan to tell him to stop streaming, but Dexter stops it midway, saying, "His viewers should see this." Some Dexbots in the room are also holding news cameras, pointed at me in the time machine. Well, looks like everyone is going to figure out what will happen when someone travels through time very soon.

After waiting for a little while, I hear something strange, coming from the ceiling of the room outside. I get up and look at the ceiling vents. It sounds like something's crawling through one of them. The sound leaves the room as soon as it starts, going backward. I think of telling Dexter about it, but then I realize how strange Dexlabs is. I mean, I saw robotic Cerberuses - or is it Cerburi? - guarding the entrance to the chamber hallway! Maybe there are smaller versions of those, or some other kind of drone, crawling through the vents? But what purpose would that serve? I don't know, and because I don't know, I ignore it and sit back down again.

"Alright, Mark, let's make sure your communicator is functional before we continue," Dexter says as Computress writes into her clipboard again. My communicator watch emits a loud, sudden beeping noise. It's so loud I have to cover my ears a bit. Did Computress have to make the communicator beep that loud?

"All communication systems are functional, Dexter," Computress says. "Once Mark arrives in the future, I will be able to reconnect with him."

"Affirmative!" Dexter says, sweeping a bunch of holographic icons out of view, bringing up a new set of them. "Alright, I'm powering up the main engine now. Mark, you may feel a little bump."

Dexter then presses a large holo-button, and a bunch of things happen simultaneously. Dexter was right about there being a bump, but it wasn't little. It was more like a large jolt, and it knocks me around a bit. After that jolt, the time machine begins to start shaking rapidly, but it's not as bad as the first. The light in the machine's ceiling flickers in and out for a moment then comes back on. The sound coming from the machine also gets louder. But in the midst of all of this, I hear more noises from the vents, and a laugh coming from above me. Not from Dexter, not from Computress, not even from any of my friends or my parents. Someone else is in here.

"Uh, Dexter?" I ask. Dexter is having trouble hearing me, though, due to the time machine making so much noise. I don't think he's going to stop the experiment now, either. I hear the laugh again, this time more clearly. Yep, it definitely sounds feminine. It's not Amanda, though, because I've heard her laugh, and it doesn't sound like that in any way. This laugh is much higher-pitched than hers. This time, the laugh is coming from my left. I'm really confused as to who is laughing. I take another look at the large vent on the ceiling. The vent splits into two smaller vents halfway near where I am, one of which goes to the left and the other to the right. There's a catwalk going around the whole room near the ceiling, right below grates that come out of the vents. I look at both of the grates. Nothing's happening with the right one. I look to the left one, and I definitely see something above it. I can't see the grate well from here, but the bars definitely leave enough space for this person to stick her arm through. She undoes the screws, one by one. Right when the fourth screw is undone, she grabs the grate before it can hit the floor. She puts it somewhere else in the vent, and finally drops down onto the catwalk.

Well, she looks a lot more different than I thought. I was expecting some spy, possibly from Mandark Industries, Dexlabs' rival company. But this is the complete opposite of that. Instead of looking like a spy, she looks like she just completed a ballerina performance. Her hair is bright, blonde and tied into pigtails. Her ballerina outfit is the brightest shade of pink I've ever seen. If she's trying to sneak around Dexlabs, she is not going to get far without being caught. Who is this girl anyway?

"Wow! Are you seeing these readings?" Dexter says, distracting me from the girl. "This is a fine day for science indeed!" I look over at the "readings" Dexter is talking about, and I see a holo-screen containing a bunch of stuff, including a large number with a rapidly increasing number of digits. It's hard to fully read the text because from my perspective, it's all reversed. But from what I can guess, it's drawing in energy, and probably a lot. I think this because I imagine it would take a lot of energy to create a portal through Space-Time.

I look back to the girl. She's looking around the room, her eyes scanning every portion of it. She sees the time machine and seems to be mesmerized. Speaking of which, the time machine is beginning to shake a tiny bit more violently, but it's not at dangerous levels. The light in the time machine is beginning to flicker in and out a bit more too. The girl goes over the railing of the catwalk, lowers herself downward, and drops onto the other ramp that I didn't walk down. She drops only around 10 or so feet, but she lands so quietly and gracefully. She looks around a bit more, and her eyes catch the manual control panel in the back right of the room, from my perspective. She gets a big smile on her face the moment she sees it and drops down again to the floor. I look back at the manual control panel, and I realize it's still connected to the time machine.

I finally do what I should have done the moment the girl appeared. I ask Dexter loudly, "Uh, Dexter? Who is that girl?" However, due to the time machine getting increasingly louder, it's becoming more and more difficult for them to hear me. So I decide to go right up to the glass and pound on it, trying to get Dexter to look at me.

"Dexter, it looks like Mark is trying to tell you something," Computress says. I don't know how I'm hearing them over the noise the time machine is producing.

"Well, it will have to wait," Dexter says, not realizing that the girl behind him is tiptoeing across the room like someone in a cartoon. "I have officially passed the boundary of which I can safely deactivate the machine. Entering final launch sequence... 10, 9..."

Now the girl is right in front of the control panel, looking at every single button, lever, and dial on it. I know she's going to press one of those buttons in a few seconds, and I have no idea what's going to happen when she does. For all we know, nothing could happen, but I don't want to risk finding out. So, in extreme desperation, I start screaming as loud as I can, and I even start pointing at the girl to try to get someone, anyone, to turn around and see what's she doing. Evan and my other friends, who are extremely confused at this point, look at where I'm pointing and immediately see the girl. They all start screaming out Dexter's name, trying to get him to turn around.

"3, 2, 1-"

" _Ooooooh_ , what does this button do?" the girl says curiously. She speaks rather loudly when she says that, as if she isn't even trying to hide from anyone. Out of everything in the room, Dexter hears that and reacts as if he's heard this phrase from this certain girl frequently. He becomes as pale as a ghost, before his face becomes very, very red, and he turns around and starts screaming out at the girl:

 **"DEE DEE! GET OUT OF MY LABORATORY RIGHT NOW-"**

So the girl's name is Dee Dee? Well, maybe Dee Dee is this girl's nickname given to her by Dexter? Regardless, the girl starts messing with the control panel, and the moment she presses one of the buttons, everything is thrown into chaos. To start, the time machine begins shaking more violently than ever now, so violently it knocks me off my feet. The light in the ceiling goes out and breaks apart, encasing me in darkness. I hear alarms start going off outside. What the heck did the "Dee Dee" girl do?

 **"NO! DEXBOTS, GET HER AWAY FROM THERE!"** Dexter shouts, clearly panicking. As I back up against the time machine's inner walls, I look outside and see several Dexbots are wheeling over to Dee Dee, who is laughing hysterically, but not evilly. I don't think she even knows I'm here. The Dexbots grab her by the arms, and drag her away from the control panel, but it's too late. As far as I can tell, the girl's pressed pretty much every single button, turned every possible dial and flipped every lever in her reach. Who knows how that's going to affect whatever's about to happen. Bolts of electricity are zapping the ground around the time machine, preventing anyone from getting near. I guess the antennae have been misaligned. My vision is starting to cloud up and turn grayer, from what looks like steam or smoke filling the inside of the time machine. I look around to see where this steam is coming from. There are pipes around the ceiling that have been busted, split open.

The time machine is shaking more violently than ever now, knocking me back and forth all over the place. At this point, I'm less concerned with whatever is happening outside the time machine, and more concerned with me surviving this ordeal. The adrenaline is pumping through my veins, and my heart is beating faster than I think it ever has in my life. To put it bluntly, I am afraid. Terrified. Fearing for my life. Why did I ever sign up for this experiment? This was the worst idea ever!

Now the time machine is completely dark inside, and the steam makes it near impossible to see. But I can still hear what's going on, especially my friends, Andrew, Dad and Dexter shouting, and the "Dee Dee" girl laughing. I hear Dad yell, "We need to shut this down now! Get Mark out of there!"

I hear someone banging down on buttons. "I can't! She's completely frozen the controls!" Dexter yells back. I try to get up and look through the window, but no matter how much I try, I'm always knocked over. After the 4th try, I realize that this isn't going to work. With nothing I can do about this, I lean back and prepare for whatever comes next. There's no way I'm getting out of this.

Or am I? I hear a distinct crashing sound on the glass. I look up just in time to see something bash against the window again, but to no avail. I also see a shadow of a person and what looks like a chair. Someone is trying to break the glass barrier and get me out, but it's not working out very well. The glass hasn't even suffered a scratch. I lean back again, my hands behind my head, looking at the now barely visible illustration of a clock going around the glass barrier. I think the time travel's entering its final stage now because everything's starting to light up. Seriously, everything is getting much brighter. This is so weird. Dexter must notice the brightness increasing too because he starts yelling at Dad to get away from the time machine right now. Dad's the one trying to break me out. However, being the persistent and stubborn guy he is, Dad keeps trying to break the glass, and at one point it does slightly crack a miniscule amount of the glass. As the inside begins to get brighter, I see that outside the glass, Dexter is trying to pull Dad away from me. After getting a few Dexbots to help him, Dexter successfully pulls Dad away, but Dad doesn't like that. He's constantly screaming my name out, and yelling at Dexter to let him go back. He wants to get me out of there, but sadly, that hope is almost certainly futile. Then I realize it: Andrew's going to be all alone. He's going to be without an older brother. I've always protected him when he's needed it, and now I'll be gone. I need to see him one last time in case I'm no longer around again.

I jump up, resist the urge to fall over again and hurry to the glass barrier, holding on to it for dear life. I scan the room for Andrew and find him with Mom. He's panicking, crying, screaming. I absolutely hate seeing Andrew like this, but I'd rather see him like this than never get a last chance to see him. The brightness begins to obscure Andrew's face, and I hear Dexter yell, **"EVERYONE, GET AWAY FROM THE TIME MACHINE NOW! RUN!"** , then the sound of wheels moving and people running. The brightness is getting too much for me right now, so much it actually hurts. I cover my eyes and collapse back into the time machine, waiting for whatever is going to happen next. Dexter yells out, **"SET UP REFLECTIVE FORCE FIELDS!"** His voice is getting more and more distorted every second, obscured by the noise of the time machine about to blast through time. I can barely even make out what anyone is saying anymore.

Then I hear a loud, much clearer yell from my dad: **"ANDREW, NO!"** Wait, WHAT?! I uncover my eyes, and despite the blinding light, I look to the outside, and I can see someone outside. Andrew. I squint as much as I can, and he's trying to do something to the time machine. I think he's trying to find a way to open it. Oh, Andrew, what are you doing? If my dad couldn't open it, you surely can't! I try to yell out to him, but he can't hear me. **"ANDREW, STOP! GET AWAY FROM HERE!"** I yell as loud as I can, and I manage to get him to hear me. His gaze attaches to mine, and for a few seconds, we just look into each other's eyes, as if saying one last goodbye. Well, I don't know for sure if I'll die, but I'm doing this just in case it does happen. What I'm more worried about now is whether Andrew will be OK. The light then gets so bright that I'm forced to close my eyes, and the rumbling noises become the only things I can hear. Then suddenly, just like that, it all stops. The light and noise go away at the exact same time, and I start falling.

I begin to fly all over the inside of the time machine. I uncover my eyes, and all I can see outside is greenish-blue. I have barely any time to process this before I have to protect my face from hitting the wall. Whenever I look outward, there is just greenish-blue light rippling through infinity. Every so often, I swear I can see something outside, very far down from the time machine, that is on- wait, part of the greenish-blue here looks like a liquid. This is going to be a rough landing.

I brace myself for impact, but miraculously, the time machine and everything in it slows down and then completely stops just on the watery substance. As I land in a much less sudden fashion, a ripple emanates from the landing point and continues on forever. It becomes one of the several other ripples going across the surface. The time machine isn't shaking anymore, so I get up to observe where the heck I am. I look out the window and see a greenish-blue or turquoise color in every direction. This looks like a greenish-blue sky, except without a sun, and yet it's still bright. I don't know if I'm on another planet or in a completely different dimension. I get ready for the glass barrier in the time machine to rise and allow me to look around this weird place, but it doesn't. Strange. Maybe the environment outside isn't compatible.

Wait a moment. I see two people, hundreds of feet from me. One of them appears to be glowing, but the other isn't. Who are they? I bang my fist on the glass barrier, calling out to them. The one who isn't glowing turns to face me, and immediately starts running after me. At that moment, the time machine falls through the floor and turns over. I momentarily fall to the right before falling back to the left, and a bright blue flash enters the time machine while this happens. When I resurface, I'm in the same place now, except I see a group of people facing the same glowing person and a few other non-glowing people. They're about the same distance away. I don't get what this is, or what I'm seeing. I fall through the floor again just as I begin to feel that they know I'm here.

After resurfacing again, I'm still in this realm, but I see something different. On the left, around the same distance as the glowing people were, is a glowing white circle, and there are small things outside it, moving around. I look to the right, and see what I think is a person. They're running toward the glowing circle and the things outside it. There's someone else behind that person too. It stops, and the running person falls over. For some reason, I think they see me. The other person runs up and jumps on top of the person who fell down. What the heck is going on here? After a bit, a bright light appears behind the person on top, and holds them in the air. After around 30 seconds, the floor suddenly splits open and sends the fallen person toward the circle. But as for the time machine, it falls into the gap.

I start flying around again, now entering a vortex of light. I am being flung around even farther than I was before. Now, it feels like gravity doesn't know where to pull me, so I'm just falling in random directions, and sometimes just float in the middle. Every time I look outside, I can see myself falling through a tube of distorted space. Vortexes and swirls of energy of various colors surround the time machine. I can't get a grip on anything before I'm thrown somewhere else. Not long after I enter this vortex of turquoise, I am flung by another force into something, and in an instant, I am enveloped by darkness.

* * *

 ** _Andrew - May 28, 2016 - 2:23 PM_**

I can't see anything... That flash was so bright that it takes everything up. I really hope I'm not blind. Thankfully, the light starts to fade away after a few seconds. It's dark. There's glass on the floor from all the lights, and the time machine is gone. The only thing in its place are a few things that fell off it. Once I see that the time machine, where my older brother just was, isn't there, the tears begin to stream down my face faster than a waterfall. Ever since I can remember, Mark has always told me that he would protect me from anything that tried to hurt me. He said he would do anything to help me. Now... he's gone, and I have no idea how long. I really hope that the guardian Mark has always told me about is trying to help him right now. As the shields begin to go away, I hear Mom and Mark's friends come near me and pull me back. I expect to get yelled at for doing what I did, but nobody does. They all understand. Evan and his friends aren't as much crying as they are shocked, trying to believe what just happened. Their long-time friend was just lost in a time travel experiment gone wrong.

"Cut the feed," Dexter says. He's just stand there, staring at where the time machine was. He's shaking like crazy. When Dexter gives that order, Computress starts writing in her clipboard, and all the Dexbots do something to the cameras and put them down. I think they shut off all the cameras in the building. But why?

 **"DEE DEE!"** Dexter screams loudly, so loud I jump away a few feet. I cover my ears. He turns around, and he looks so angry. He looks like an angry person would look in my cartoons, with his face red and baring teeth. **"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU STUPID, STUPID SISTER?! EVERY SINGLE TIME, YOU OBLITERATE WHAT I HAVE WORKED EXCRUCIATINGLY HARD ON TO CREATE! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH IT INFURIATES ME WHEN YOU DO THIS? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF I DANCED INTO _YOUR_ ROOM AND DESTROYED ALL _YOUR_ TOYS?! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?! ...YOU'LL BE LUCKY IF I DON'T EXPOSE WHAT YOU DO TO THE PUBLIC!"**

This "Dee Dee" girl can't even begin another sentence before Dexter screams again: **"If you are trying to apologize to me, it is FAR too late for that! Not only have you destroyed my greatest and newest creation, which took MONTHS of meticulous design and complicated quantum calculations to make, you have just put someone in extreme danger! Do you want to know who? THIS LAB ASSISTANT'S SON!"**

Dexter points to Dad, who is looking at Dee Dee with the angriest expression I have ever seen someone have. He doesn't even look like Dad anymore. I back away from both of them as a result. Dexter walks over to Dad and says, "Only words."

"Andrew... you'll want... to leave... for this," Dad says, not taking his eyes off of Dee Dee. He's breathing heavily, with his shoulders are moving up and down with the breathing. He looks even angrier than Dexter. The Dee Dee girl is just staring at Dad, looking super scared. Dexter motions his hand to a Dexbot. The Dexbot wheels over to a control panel near the entrance to the hallway. After pressing a few buttons on the panel, the door opens and the Dexbot says:

 _"Andrew Emeron, please come this way. We'll bring you to the waiting room while we prepare a few tests in the wake of your... experience. To make sure you're safe."_

"...OK," I say as I reluctantly follow the Dexbot to the massive hallway outside the chamber. The metal door closes behind us, and walk into the waiting room across the hall. I sit down in the chair that is the farthest away from the door and cover my ears tightly, and seconds after I sit down, I hear the yelling. The loudest screams I've ever heard in my life, so loud that even though I'm covering my ears in a waiting room across the hall from the chamber, which a large metal door is sealing off, I can still clearly hear it. He is yelling words that I have never even heard of before. Some of these might even be the "forbidden words". He's calling Dee Dee things like "a disgrace", "a destroyer of progress", "a potential murderer", and... I don't even know what he just said there, but it doesn't sound good. OK, what in the world is he saying? Are these other forbidden words he didn't tell me about? I'll ask him later. But not now. Now's not a good time.

After 30 seconds of hearing Dad scream, I smell something weird. It smells like paint. A lot of paint. For some reason, it feels extremely familiar. Dad's yells start to get quieter until they're gone completely. I cover my ears and I hear nothing. It's completely silent. Did he stop? Then without warning, someone appears outside the window. He is tall and is glowing brightly, to the point that I can't even make out anything about it other than its human shape. After the first surprise, I begin to wonder: could this glowing guy be the "Guardian" Mark has always told me about? I don't know how he could be late to save Mark here unless something else is going on in wherever he comes from. He stands there, looking at me, for a few seconds, before walking right through the wall as if it weren't even there. At this point, I have to shield my eyes. It's glowing that brightly.

 _"Sorry about that,"_ he says in a rather angelic tone. Almost as if he can control it, the light stops being as bright. Still, I can't make out any features on it. It's like one of those glow-in-the-dark stickers on the walls of my room. It has a clear shape, but it's glowing everywhere.

"Who are you?" I ask him. "Are you... Are you the Guardian?"

The glowing person stops for a second, before saying,

" _Yes, I am,"_ he says. He pauses for a second, and looks up to the center of the room. There's a security camera looking directly at the two of us. He looks back down to me, and kneels down so his eyes are my level. He puts my hand in his hands, and I feel a strange feeling. I don't know why, but it reminds me of when I was a baby. I see images of him standing over me in my crib, and him shining a light on me from his hand. He says, _"Don't worry about Mark. I am making sure he'll be safe. You will see him again."_

"How soon will I see him?" I ask him.

 _"About... two and a half years. Potentially much sooner."_ Wait, two and a half years? I'll be over 10 years old by then! Mark's friends will be either 16 or 17! But he's saying that Mark could come back sooner, but he's not saying when. I don't know which option to believe. He leans even closer to me, and whispers into my ear: _"By the way, there's something secret Evan wants to tell you about. Don't tell anyone else. When the rest come, and they see this, you cannot tell them what I just said."_

The lights suddenly come back on, startling me a bit, because I jump out of my chair and end up looking to the right. I turn back to the Guardian as he's getting up.

 _"I must go now... But we will meet again,"_ the Guardian says as the door to the chamber opens. The Guardian turns around, walks through the glass and wall again and goes to the left. I run out of the waiting room and look down the hall. There's nothing there. No trace of him anywhere or any evidence that he was ever in this area at all- well, maybe the camera might have some. That's when all the noise of a normal hallway comes back. Evan, Amanda, and other friends are leaving the room, all looking sad. Dad, Jade, and Mom walk out next, all crying. I have to put a stop to this. I have to tell them what I've seen. Mom comes toward me and extends out her arms. I guess she expects me to run into them, which is why she's surprised when I don't.

"What did they say?" I ask.

The entire room goes silent. Mom steps close to me, and says, "Mark is going to be gone for..." She hesitates. She is scared of telling me, even though I already know what she's going to say. "Two and a half years-"

"I don't think it'll be that long," I say, interrupting her completely. Everyone is surprised.

"I understand your denial, Andrew," Amanda says, breaking the silence. "All of us are denying he'll be gone for that long too. But Dexter said that's what would happen, and he's one of the greatest geniuses on the planet-"

"Mark's guardian came to me and told me he could come back sooner than that!"

"Wait, hold up! Guardian?" Evan says. "You mean the one that Mark talked about every so often?"

"Yes!" I'm yelling now, to get everyone else's attention. "While you were yelling at the girl, Dad, he came to me in the waiting room. Yes, he did tell me that Mark may come back in 2.5 years, but he also said that Mark could come back 'potentially much sooner.'" I look back into the waiting room, and the camera on the ceiling.

I hear the door open yet again, and this time, Computress and Dexter are leaving. Dexter looks very irritated, and Computress is trying to calm him down. Dexter is saying quietly, "If she wasn't my sister, I would-"

"Computress, what security camera is that?" I say, interrupting Dexter. I point to the camera.

"That is the Experimental Floor WR2 Security Camera. Why exactly do you ask?"

"You can see what's been caught on cameras since you're connected to Dexlabs, right? I've heard that you are able to see everything that goes on!"

"That is correct-" She pauses, then she looks surprised. "This is very interesting." Beams of light shoot out of her eyes onto the wall next to the large door. The whole encounter was recorded, and as everyone in the hallway watches it, they are in absolute shock and awe. When the Guardian went through the wall, apparently it messed up the footage, because every now and then, the audio and video would go weird or cut entirely. It's during then that I tell them what the Guardian told me, except when he whispers into my ear. When Evan asks why I'm not telling them, I say, "He told me not to tell you."

After Computress finishes projecting what the camera saw, she is extremely confused, even for a robot. My parents don't know what to say, and most of my friends are just staring at the wall, unsure of how exactly to react to what they saw. They have all seen proof of the existence of Mark's guardian. The thing that my parents have always thought to be a long-running joke is a real thing. This "Guardian" is now known to be real by the greatest genius in the world.

I walk over to Evan and whisper into his ear, "The Guardian had told me to ask you about something secret that you know about. What is that?"

Evan pauses for a few seconds, before he turns around and says, "Excuse us." We walk a long distance away from the group of people, and I whisper into Evan's ear: "So what is it?"

"It's about this..." Evan lowers his voice. "This cool... _club_ that you can be part of."

"A club?" I am in the middle of asking, but Evan shushes me in the middle of me saying that word. I'm interested in what this "club" he's talking about is. He then whispers into my ear, even more quietly than the Guardian:

"It's something your parents can't be a part of. You can't tell anyone about it except for people you know for a fact are in it. Don't tell Jade, the rest of my friends, or anyone else. Tomorrow, I'll come over to explain it all to you. You'll be home at around 10:00ish, right?"


	3. Arrival

_**G - January 14, 2019 - 11:58 AM**_

 _He has arrived._

* * *

 _ **Mark**_

More flickering images flash by in my mind. That strange greenish-blue gem, hovering downward now. A spray-painting on a wall of a human-shaped figure, and the words "YOUR GUARDIAN" below it. Andrew's smile. The time machine. That vortex of light. The green ball shows up again, even closer now. It's so close it nearly covers my entire field of view. Unlike last time, I know I'm dreaming. I try to get a more coherent view of the dream, only to get a white flash of light. I'm in a dark tunnel of sorts, and there's a turquoise light shining toward me. I think I see a person there, too. I try to get to this other person, but like a rainbow, no matter how far I run, it always keeps its distance from me. I start floating and fly at faster and faster speeds, and yet it still doesn't get closer. An unfamiliar voice says, _"It is time... Wake up."_ Everything goes dark, and the red, glowing eyes appear. I do what the voice says, because I don't want to see the eyes anymore.

My eyes open to the time machine's interior. The part of the time machine that I am looking at is very badly damaged, sparks and whatever steam is left coming out of the pipes within. Most of the machine's inner wall has been torn off, revealing its skeleton. I can barely see 3 feet in front of my face due to the amount of dust around me, which causes me to cough badly. A million thoughts run through my mind, the first being how every part of my body is aching. Just moving my head to look around hurts a little bit. I'm breathing rapidly, and my heart is pounding. Where the heck am I? And most importantly, what time am I in? That Dee Dee girl probably changed all the variables. I could be in any possible space and time, from the time of the dinosaurs to even being on the Moon during the death of our Sun. Well, I'd be dead by now if the latter was the case, so I'm definitely in a time where the Earth, or any Planet I could be on, has a breathable atmosphere at this point in time. But the thing I need to know even more than what time I'm in is where exactly I am. I listen. I don't hear much at all except what sounds like distant explosions. Maybe I've warped into a place close to a warzone. I have no idea. Part of me wants to just lie here in the fetal position until something finds me. But I need to know where I am, because if I don't do anything at all, the uncertainty will drive me insane.

I slowly get up, ignoring any of the pain reverberating through my body. The pain seems to be diminishing rather quickly, though. I end up coughing again from all the dust in the air. Where did all this dust come from? Am I in a dust storm? I hear the sound of glass hitting the floor. Confused, I look down and see there are pieces of glass where I was before. The glass barrier between me and the outside has shattered into a billion particles, which are either inside the time machine or outside. All the glass must be safety glass because if it weren't, I'd have been cut badly by now. I look outside, and through the dust coming through the broken barrier, I notice the "XII", which should be on the top, is now on the right. The time machine is completely on its side. Beyond the exit, I see what looks like a sheer cliff. Am I at the bottom of a cliff or something? Near a warzone? During a dust storm? This makes no sense. Guess I'll make sense of it real soon.

 _ **Beep.**_ I look around, pretty startled, to see where that loud noise came from, only to realize it's my communicator, the one Dexter put on me before I entered the time machine. I look down at it and see that it's counting something down: "148, 147, 146…" I carefully exit the time machine through what was a barrier of glass and jump onto the ground, hearing the crunch of more safety glass. I cough again and put my mouth and nose in my shirt. I look down and see the remains of a sidewalk, with grass protruding from holes in the concrete. That's weird… I hear an explosion, far off in the distance, to the right. Not long after, the ground shakes for a few seconds. I look to the right, but a building is in the way. I look up the building and notice that a lot of the glass is broken or simply gone. Part of the building looks like it's sunk into the ground. The building is also tilted to the left as if it could fall any second now. I can't see much else through the cloud of dust, which, now that I think about it, looks… off. I don't know, it's a lot greener than it should be. Well, at least I know I'm still on Earth.

The dust is starting to irritate my eyes, making me blink rapidly. There's so much of it in the air around me I can taste it. I go the next possible direction, which is to the left of the time machine, and… there's destruction everywhere. There are buildings sinking into the ground or completely fallen over, and there are girders of Slider tracks scattered everywhere. I walk around and try to see where I am, and after walking around for a few seconds, I nearly lose my balance. I look down and see I could have just walked off the edge of a cliff and fallen into the water about 15 feet below- wait… that's not water! That's green, and it's glowing! I can only see a little bit, but I know this isn't normal.

I'm having trouble finding something to justify where I am now. Well… maybe I've been blasted into a time when a monster is rampaging through Townsville right now, and I've just gone to a place where it recently knocked a bunch of stuff over. I still don't know how to explain the green, glowing liquid, though. Maybe whatever monster there is spits toxic waste that can melt the ground? Well, if there is a monster, I'd certainly hear it roaring… unless the Powerpuff Girls just defeated it and this is the last bit of destruction it left behind. Then where is the monster's body? I decide to stop wondering how this destruction occurred, and instead try to get out of it. I stumble around the dust cloud until I can finally see more than 10 feet in front of my face, and collapse coughing again. I get up and look around, and I can see the destruction more clearly. It goes on as far as I can see- Wait, something's very wrong, aside from this destruction. I look up and see that the sky is extremely different now. It's GREEN! This isn't right, this isn't right at all. And... oh my god.

I just looked up, and the first thing I see is a massive planet in the sky. Well, it actually looks like a cluster of planets, all fused into a large dark green planet in the center. Some of the planets are connected to other planets by a strange, green, gooey substance. I look back to where I saw the green liquid, and I can see a part of the ocean- That's an ocean of the green liquid, stretching on indefinitely! Is the substance connecting the planets the same as whatever the ocean is made up now? There's a ring coming out of the dark green center planet in the top left part, and going back into the planet at another point near the middle. I can see lights on the dark parts of some of the planets fused into the center planet, and even the marking on a face on a barren white planet on the left. Hold on… I think I see the Moon! On the bottom, connected to two other different planets. Yep, that's definitely our Moon. Based on the moon's size compared to the whole planet, it's at least as big as Jupiter, if not bigger. What the… I don't even know what to ask. Am I in an alternate universe or something?

I stare at the planet for who knows how long, trying to comprehend what is happening, until I'm interrupted by a noise from the communicator. It's not a beep. I look to the communicator and see a notification. I'm getting a message from Computress. I immediately press the "ACCEPT" button and speak.

"C-c-computress?" I ask. I'm almost unable to form words right now.

"Mark, listen," Computress says, which is not what I expected her to say. I thought she'd say "Greetings" or "Salutations" or some other formal way of saying "Hello". She continues, "It is essential that you dispose of your communicator and retreat from your current location immediately."

"Wait, wait. What? W-Why? A-also, what in the heck is happening here? W-what's with the... p-planet, the green sky, and... and all t-the destruction? WHAT IS GOING ON?" I yell.

Computress shushes me. She continues talking, though sometimes it glitches and cuts out every so often: "Don't make any noise, Mark, please. I know you have a lot of questions, and they will all be answered in great detail, but now is not the time to do so. You must dispose of your communicator before you're hunted down. You can detach it by pressing the yellow button on the right. When it's released from your wrist, you need to throw it as far away as possible and run toward Tech Square. Hurry, Mark, before th-hh-e Fu-s-si-"

The communicator shorts out and stops working. I guess the signal broke. But now I'm more confused than before. Why do I need to detach my communicator? What am I running from? I don't want to find out, but if she wants me to throw away my communicator, they could be using it to locate my position. Dexter said all Dexbots in the area nearby would use the signal my communicator sends out to locate my position and rescue me. What if whatever is trying to find me hacked into the Dexbots, and that's how they know where I am? OK, seriously, I need to STOP wondering because it's wasting precious, precious time to get away. I quickly press the yellow button on the right side of my communicator. It immediately falls off onto the grassy sidewalk below. I pick it up and search for a place to throw it. That ocean consisting of the weird green liquid seems like a good idea, but if whatever's hunting me is using the communicator's position, suddenly getting notified of it being broken will just be a red flag. So, I throw it into the cloud of dust I walked out of. I see it bounce off the ground into a mix of concrete and metal pieces. I hear it beep again, confirming that it's still working. I start running in the opposite direction.

As I'm running, I try to find something that can help me get to Dexlabs, a street sign, a map, anything to help me out of this madness, but I can't find anything that isn't destroyed. After I run a fair distance, I find a couple large pieces of concrete, having fallen from a tall building which is severely damaged at the top floors. The pieces of concrete are big enough that I can hide behind them from whatever is coming for me, so I run behind them and peek between two of them to see what's going to happen. In the distance, my communicator sits in the cloud of dust and now more visible rubble. I think a building collapsed not long before I arrived here. After a minute or so, something emerges into the open space, from the left. It looks just like the robotic Cerberus I saw before, except I can see thin lines of glowing green between the pieces of dark blue metal armor. Every eye on each of the robotic Cerberus's three heads is glowing bright red, when back at Dexlabs, they were green. Two more of the same robots come into the space, toward the communicator. The one leading their ambush stealthily approaches its location as if hunting prey. They jump into the dust, expecting to tear at flesh, but only to tear into the communicator itself. Its pieces fly a long distance from where it used to be.

The robo-Cerberus looks around in confusion, then to its other two squadmates. Another creature arrives from the right. I duck to get out of its sight. It looks like a gigantic, dark blue mechanical bat, at least 7 or 8 feet tall, complete with wings and everything. It also has red eyes and is bright green underneath its metal skin. Most of the "skin" for its wings is also bright green. This giant robo-bat shrieks out at the three Cerberus robots. I can't tell what it's saying, but I think it's wondering what's going on. It probably received the distress signal too. The middle robo-Cerberus steps forward toward the large mecha-bat and initiates a conversation of snarls and screeches. I'm pretty sure that the robo-Cerberus and the giant mecha-bat are talking about me, or whatever the communicator was doing. Maybe they're thinking it was a diversion for something. I don't know how I'll be able to figure that out.

The mecha-bat flies upward and shrieks out. All three Cerberus-bots pounce in different directions and begin running away, but the mecha-bat stays. It continues flapping its wings until most of the dust has cleared away, making almost everything visible. It lands back on the ground and starts walking around the open space. It speaks English this time, in a freaky, booming, demonic-like voice:

 _ **"I know you're here somewhere… Where are you?"**_

It takes all of my willpower to not run away screaming. If I did that, it would immediately know where I am. It's best to not move or speak at all.

 _ **"Why are you here alone? No backup at all? And what is that?"**_

I slowly look through the gap between two of the building pieces and see the giant mecha-bat looking at the ruins of the time machine. It then starts swiping its wings at it, sending most of the dust away.

 _ **"This is Dexlabs machinery… Wait a minute, this looks like his old time machine! Did Dexter send you here? Do you even know where you are right now? Or what I am? Well, it doesn't matter. I will find you."**_

Well, now I know this thing is definitely evil. Nothing says something like that and doesn't mean to kill you. But I hear a weird oozing sound on my right, diverting my attention from the mecha-bat. I turn and see a large pod, enveloped in vines, in the middle of the cracked street. The vines surround a large amount of the same green substance as in the toxic ocean. At least, I think it's toxic. Any green, glowing liquid usually isn't good for you.

 _ **"I am curious as to who you are. You could tell me how this works… for me to use for future plans. In that case, I'll probably just assimilate you into my armies instead of simply killing you."**_

The vines start shifting to allow an opening for the fluid. Some of the liquid comes down in one large drop, at least a foot in diameter. It slowly drops down to the ground, as if it was extremely viscous. The vines go back to their original position after the drop disconnects from the liquid in the pod.

 _ **"I am everywhere… I see everything… You can't escape me…"**_

The sphere of green liquid retains its shape for a few seconds, before suddenly, red eyes appear on it, facing me. The top of the back of the sphere begins to point outward. Another bright red line appears where a mouth would be on the creature, and it slowly opens, revealing the shape of a jagged mouth lined with teeth. Except the teeth are also made out of whatever toxic material this thing is made of. I notice the mecha-bat's no longer talking. But I have bigger issues: this thing in front of me.

"Nice alien… green… thing," I say quietly enough so the giant mecha-bat can't hear me. I back up slowly toward the other rocks, making sure I don't step on anything that could snap with a loud crack and give away my position. As long as whatever this green thing is does nothing, I'm in the clear. But the demonic voice comes from it now:

 _ **"There you are."**_

The green blob lunges at me, screeching loudly. I grab it with both my hands, and I immediately feel a burning sensation. I can't help but scream in pain. I quickly throw it off of me down a nearby hill to prevent my hands from getting burnt more, as I back up to the other rocks. I hear another loud shriek and the flapping of wings. My position's been given away. I do the only thing I can do: run.

I run past broken cars, on decaying sidewalks, and past collapsed buildings. I see more of those pods every now and then, leaking even more of those green spherical creatures. Some of them are bigger than others. Regardless of size, they all bounce after me. I don't think I have ever run any faster in my life than I am running now, not even when my friends and I were running out of the Game Hive the day of Buttercup's disappearance. I hear the mecha-bat screeching behind me, and it's louder now. It's gaining up on me fast. Out here in the open, I'm done for. I need to find cover. I look around for somewhere to hide. One of the buildings on my right doesn't seem to be that badly damaged. OK, I'm going in there. I run for the doors. The mecha-bat shrieks again, even closer. I hear an explosion behind me. I don't know what's it going to do if it catches me, but I definitely don't want to know. I burst into the building's lobby and glance over my shoulder. The robo-bat is breaking the glass doors, trying to get through. It starts clawing at the walls and windows. After a few seconds, it flies up into the air, sending out an even louder shriek. It's probably calling the three Cerberus-bots over. Next thing I know, I'm running as far away from the entrance doors as possible.

I run down the hallways, up several floors, and burst through doors, trying to find something to defend myself in case I'm found. As I run, I find things like cubicles, offices and other things that hint the building I'm in is an office building. I'm on the fifth floor when I hear a bunch of robotic barking noises. The evil Cerberus-bots are here now. It's not long before I hear them coming up the building's walls. I run away from any nearby windows, and I try to find something, anything, to defend myself. I hear glass shatter, roaring noises, screeches. They're getting close.

I run into another hallway and find several pipes running along the wall on my left. I stop for a moment when I see the markings. They've cut some pipes completely, leaving the pieces that would remain on the floor. I take one pipe piece from the pile and look at it. It's at least 2 feet long, about 1 inch in diameter, and not that hard to hold. It's pretty heavy, though. When I look back up the marks in the pipes, I notice these marks have formed the shape of a human figure, and the letter G. I look over the markings. The shape of the figure is the exact same as the one on the emerald I got at Bravo Beach, and the one I had in my dream not long ago. If this is the work of my... "guardian", did he know exactly where I'd be and when? How? Actually, now that I think about it, that makes perfect sense, because if it's a ethereal being, it probably knows everything that is going to happen in this universe, so it'd know where to go. I hear more screeching and snarling noises, snapping me back to reality. And now, I'm running again.

I take a hallway at the edge of the building, the left wall lined with windows looking in. The giant robo-bat flies up and sees me, and screeches. All the glass shatters and flies toward me. I run down the hallway right next to me as the glass flies past me.

 _ **"Where do you think you're going?"**_ the giant mecha-bat says, its voice getting quieter as I run. _**"Do you really think you can hide?"**_

I burst open the door into another large room full of cubicles and look for somewhere to go. The lights are on in this room, so the power generator must still be working somewhat. The power can at least reach this room. There's an elevator on the other side which I might be able to take. It's worth a shot. If I got to the roof, I could have a much better vantage point and be able to find out where exactly I am. When I see the door on my far right starting to be clawed down, I duck behind the walls of the nearest cubicle and hide under a desk. I remain there for what feels like an eternity. I hear the sounds of them tearing up every single cubicle trying to find me. I hold the metal pipe tightly in my hands, ready to jab it at the Cerberus-bots whenever they show up. I think one of them is walking down the aisle my cubicle is in. The ripping noises continue to get closer, and I realize I have to make a run for it at some point. I stealthily get out from under the desk, and quickly peek down the aisle. There's one of the Cerberus-bots a couple cubicles down, but it doesn't see me. I then move over to the other side of the cubicle and look over the wall, and there are no evil Cerberus-bots over there. I quietly go around the wall and land in a cubicle already ripped up, so none of them will think to look here. It's only seconds later the cubicle I was just in starts to get ripped apart.

I slowly move closer and closer to the elevator, hiding behind ripped-up walls in case any come near me. I try to make as little noise as humanly possible because I have no idea what these Cerberus-bots are capable of, other than the fact they are fast as all heck. Then I hear them start leaving. OK, I'm at least safe for now, but I'll continue to be quiet anyway. Once I finally make my way to the elevator, I press the "up" button. Immediately, it lets out a loud dinging noise, alerting all of the Cerberus-bots to my position. As the doors open, I launch myself into it and mash my fist on the button going to the very top floor. One of the Cerberus-bots comes out of the entrance I came through to get into this room, and it runs at full speed toward me. Right before it can reach me, the elevator doors shut on it. That doesn't stop it from trying to claw and bite through it. Thankfully the elevator starts moving up by the time it's halfway through, cutting off one of the Cerberus-bot's claws as it does so. I pick up the claw and put in my pocket. I may want to use it for later. The elevator moves up pretty rapidly, as it's not long before I reach the top floor. Once the doors open, I rush forward, into a room full of elevators. I look around the room for a stairway and find a door to one on the right side. I take the Cerberus-bot's claw out of my pocket, cut open the lock, burst open the door, and run up the stairway to the roof. I get to another door, and cut the lock again with the claw. I put the claw back in my pocket and run out onto the roof. Seconds after I get outside, the mecha-bat swoops down onto the roof, and stares down at me with its bright red eyes.

 _ **"Hello again,"**_ the robo-bat says in that same, demonic voice. It really does look terrifying up close. I swing my metal pipe at it, but it shrieks loudly, knocking me to the floor.

 _ **"Really? A pipe?"**_ it says as I try to get up, but it quickly lowers down onto me. It doesn't crush me, but its metallic talons wrap around my torso. _**"A pipe against a Dexlabs aerial drone? Well, a former Dexlabs drone… now it's just one of my countless minions!"**_

I don't care about anything it's saying. I fruitlessly struggle to escape this robo-bat's grasp. I try to hit its feet with the metal pipe to break it, but it actually does nothing. I need something sharper to pierce this thing. It makes a chuckling noise after I hit it with the pipe.

 _ **"See? I told you it'd do nothing,"**_ the robo-bat says. _**"Now how about we go for a fly?"** _ It starts flapping its wings, to take me to who-knows-where. It might just drop me straight to the ground. I'm not going to let that happen. I grab the Cerberus-bot claw from my pocket again and stab the mecha-bat's ankles with it repeatedly. It screeches in pain and drops me back onto the floor. I quickly get up and run to the other side of the building with the pipe and claw. The mecha-bat's ankle is sparking and leaking that green stuff. It's forced to land. It tries walking, but it has trouble doing so. It looks down at its wound, then back at me. This claw of mine is the most effective thing I have against this mecha-bat.

 _ **"There's no point to you trying to survive. This planet of yours is doomed to die… Nothing can save it from me."**_

I rush forward at the mecha-bat, ready to jam my claw into it more. It flaps its wings again, knocking me back a bit, but I keep running toward it. It flies up and lands somewhere else on the roof. It's toying with me, and probably stalling so the Cerberus-bots can come up and get me. I won't let it do that. I run at it again with the pipe and claw, and sure enough, it flies back up again. I watch as it moves to the other side of the roof, and then I throw the claw right before it's about to land. The claw shines light into my eyes as it flies across the roof. The mecha-bat turns around to face me, and the claw goes right into its eye.

I cover my ears in advance before the loud shrieks of pain from the robo-bat take place. The mecha-bat frantically swipes at its head to get the claw out of its eye, and eventually throws it out onto the floor. After doing that, it quickly flies away from the building. I run to the claw and as I pick it up, the three Cerberus-bots appear on the roof. They must have climbed up the walls.

 _ **"You've got nowhere to run now!"** _ the booming voice says, coming from one of the Cerberus-bots now. The Cerberus-bot that the voice is coming out of has dry blood all over its fangs. How is this voice coming from all these monsters? The Cerberus-bots get closer, trapping me on the center of the roof. The Cerberus-bot claw and the metal pipe are all I have to fend off these 3 things. Based on what I've seen them capable of, there's no way I'm going to hold them all off… I'm screwed.

Suddenly, a strange noise comes from behind me, sounding like something is protruding out of the ground. All the Cerberus-bots look behind me too and shriek at it. I turn around and see a large diamond coming over the side of the building. More diamonds appear, sprouting out of the main diamond. These diamonds are nearly opaque and very blue. I know who it's going to be before he even shows up: Ben 10, in his Diamondhead form. He walks up the main diamond and looks down at me and the Cerberus-bots. His form looks roughly the same as before I traveled to this future: he's a large crystalline humanoid, the same color as the crystals going up the building. The Diamondhead attire is the same: a pure black outfit except for a green stripe down the middle until it reaches his green-and-white belt. The Omnitrix symbol, a black circle with a green hourglass-like shape within it, except more triangular, is on the front of the belt. He continues to wear black all the way down to the bottom of his shoes, which are green. The two large crystals that stick out of his back have grown even longer too.

"Get down," Ben says to me, his voice extremely deep due to him being in his Diamondhead form. He starts blasting crystals out of his hands at the Cerberus-bots. I turn around and duck down onto the floor as he jumps down and transforms his arms into thick blades. The Cerberus-bots jump at him, and Ben starts fighting them. The blades are not slowed down at all when they penetrate the Cerberus-bots' armor, causing significant damage to them. They try to retreat from the scene, but someone else runs out of the door that I took to the roof and starts blasting at the Cerberus-bots. I can't exactly focus on them because I'm still scared, but I see crystals lodged in the roof and the Cerberus-bots trying to run away; only one is able to flee, and I can see some of Diamondhead's crystals sticking out of it.

I stay down for a few seconds, as the other person runs to the edge of the roof and looks down. Now I can see her more clearly. She's wearing a red cap, a dark blue combination between a shirt and a dress, black shorts, and white shoes. She has black hair tied into a braid, and she has golden hoop earrings on both of her ears. I don't know why, but this person looks vaguely familiar. I can't remember exactly who I'm thinking she looks like, but she did look similar to that person.

I hear weird, fast noises behind me, which indicates to me that Ben is no longer in his Diamondhead form, but in his normal, human form. I turn around and see Ben, a lot older than before, at least in his very late teens. He's wearing a similar outfit to the last time I saw him, in that he has a black shirt with a green stripe going down the middle, with the number 10 in the center. He has brownish pants and green sneakers, too. And of course, who can forget what's on his left wrist: the Omnitrix, a green-and-white device similar in appearance to a watch, able to turn the wielder into an alien for a certain amount of time. Both Ben and the girl run to me.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ben says.

"For... for being ch-chased up here... b-by these... t-things, I'm... p-pretty good," I say. If I didn't nearly die from those Cerberus-bots, I'd probably be thanking Ben for a while, but I'm sure he knows I'm thankful, and I'm breathing heavily right now. I still say, "T-thank you."

"What I want to know is how you're here and not already evacuated from this place," the girl says. "We already swept this sector of the city and we got out anyone in danger here."

"We probably didn't find him then, Number Five," Ben says. Hmm… I guess "Number Five" is the girl's codename. But Ben pronounced the "er" part of her codename as "uh", making it actually "Numbuh Five." I think I've heard that name before, but nothing really comes to mind.

"I… I-I was- wasn't here… t-then," I say. I'm still panicking and stuttering after nearly dying less than a minute ago. "I c-came in… the.. the machine, uh… h-how did you even find me?" I ask.

"Well, Numbuh Five and I were helping to fight off a squad of Fuse's monsters attempting to get into Tech Square, but then I saw a bright flash of light near the cliff," Ben says. "There was a massive energy ripple from it, as well, that even managed to knock down a nearby building. That's when a larger barrage attacked from the other side and we had to fend them off. When we finally got to where that blast came from, we saw the Tech Wing flying in your direction."

"Tech Wing?" I ask. "That was the mecha-bat?"

"Yeah… that was it," Ben says. Well, at least I know what to call those things now. They suddenly both look behind me, as if something just showed up. I turn around as well, and see another one of those green, spherical aliens bouncing toward one of the crystals still on the roof. "Numbuh Five" blasts it down before it can do that, sending it off the roof.

"What about those green bouncy things?" I ask them next. I start pointing at the cluster of planets in the sky. "And what is that?"

When I look back to Ben and Numbuh Five, they are befuddled. They're acting as if I'm supposed to know what these things are. I don't really blame them, because based on how messed up this place is, it would be weird for me to know absolutely nothing about what's happening. The girl asks, "How do you… not know what that is? Are you OK? Did you get hit badly by something?"

"Should we call medics to check if you're OK?" Ben adds on.

No! You do not need to call medics, because I do not have amnesia!" I scream. "I legitimately don't know what is happening! I have no frickin' clue where I am, what these things are, what time I'm in-"

"Wait, hold up. What are you trying to say?" the girl says.

"I don't know what time I'm in!" I say, louder. "You… you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"No, not really," Ben says, shrugging.

"Could you explain what you mean in any way?" Numbuh Five says.

I nod, before saying, "I can also show you. It's at the place where you saw the energy explosion; the thing I came here in caused it."

"Alright," Ben says. I'm hit with a sudden flash of green light, which happens every time Ben transforms into an alien. When the light clears, I see a different alien. It's wearing a black-and-green outfit and has a pointy head, just like Diamondhead. But unlike Diamondhead, this alien is a lot sleeker and more aerodynamic. Its feet have black spherical shapes under them, and its head is covered by a helmet complete with a visor. Any skin visible is a dark blue. This is "XLR8", another one of Ben's "original 10 aliens". I noticed he no longer has to use his Omnitrix to transform. Before, Ben had to select an alien, then slam his hand down on the center of the Omnitrix after it opened up. Is he able to control it with his mind now? The visor goes up, revealing the blue face and bright green eyes of XLR8.

"Come on!" Ben says, before Numbuh Five and I walk to him. He puts his arms around both of us, and suddenly we're moving super fast. I can't even process anything before we're at where the time machine was. I stumble out extremely dizzy. I knew what Ben was going to do, but I thought since I'd never done something like… well, that, he'd at least give me a warning. I accidentally fall onto the ground, and just stare at the green sky. It's still spinning. Dust plumes up when I fall, making me cough again.

"Oh… sorry about that," Ben says. "A lot of people have that reaction the first time. I kinda forgot about that for a moment."

The spinning goes away not long after. I get up and look to Ben and "Numbuh Five", who are looking around trying to see what there's supposed to be.

"So, wait, whatever you got here in is in this area?" Numbuh Five asks me. I nod in response. After looking around for a moment, I see the time machine, in the corner of the open space, facing away. The dust that would normally be obscuring the Dexlabs logo looks liked it's been wiped away.

"Wait, wait!" Ben suddenly says, he and Numbuh Five running to my side. "I think I might know what this is!"

Ben starts wiping up all the rest of the dust off the time machine. Ben then runs to the other side, where all the glass and the antennae are visible. Numbuh Five turns to me.

"You know, Numbuh Five thinks she knows who you are now!" Numbuh Five says. Wait, she refers to herself in the third person? This is so weird. "You're the kid from the past that Dexter kept telling us about! The one who went through that time machine experiment! Your name is Mark, right?"

"Yeah," I say back. Numbuh Five looks back at the time machine, and then me again. She says:

"Well then, Numbuh Five is sorry that she thought you had amnesia earlier. It does make sense now as to why you were confused about everything. This world really has... well, let's just say you're in a world of trouble now. As you probably have figured out, I am Numbuh Five. Numbuh Five is the current second-in-command of the Kids Next Door. But if you really-"

"What?" I ask bluntly. I have no idea what a full ¾ of what she said is. Numbuh Five is a bit surprised. She doesn't know what I mean. I clarify by asking: "What the heck is Sector V? What is the Kids Next Door? And I still haven't figured out what's happening with the planet and other stuff!"

"We'll explain everything when we get you to Tech Square," Ben says. "Now, we need to hurry before more-"

I hear a loud roar, coming from the top of a nearby building. I look up and see a Cerberus-bot, staring down at us. Its right head is very damaged, and there are even some bits of Diamondhead's crystals sticking out of it. More Cerberus-bots appear by its side.

"Cyberus squad incoming!" Numbuh Five says.

"Dang, these guys just keep coming!" Ben says before he transforms again into another alien. As the green flash subsides, I find relief in that I know what the Cerberus-bots are called. Cyberus… That's a clever name. The alien Ben transforms into now is a black-and-green striped humanoid alien. Upgrade. The alien is green with black stripes on the torso downward, and the arms, neck and head are black with green stripes. The stripes are set up to resemble some sort of electrical circuit. The Omnitrix symbol is on his face, of all things, where his singular eye would be. I don't know how he is able to see, but I'm not going to question it.

The Cyberus group is joined by an even bigger Cyberus, at least twice as big in every dimension, or EIGHT TIMES BIGGER in terms of volume. If this was chasing me instead of the Tech Wing, I wouldn't have made the first block, if that. It roars loudly, and most of the normal Cyberusses lunge at us.

Numbuh Five pulls out two laser blasters and starts firing at every Cyberus she can shoot at. She pauses a few seconds in and looks to me.

"Hey, Mark!" Numbuh Five says. "Take this weapon, quickly!"

She tosses a strange weapon into my hands. It looks somewhat similar to a rifle, and is mostly reddish-orange, with the back being dark grey. There are two red prongs, one above and the other below a silver circle, and I think whatever is in this gun might come out of it. There are two dials on the side with the labels **"VOLTAGE"** and **"AMPERAGE"**. There's a chamber in the middle of the device that I can see through a small glass porthole in the top. Inside, I can see energy swirling around, with small bolts of lightning arcing across. Wait, why am I admiring this device? I need to help Ben and Numbuh Five!

I find the trigger on the weapon. On the very top of the red handle. I press it, and it launches a blast of bright, concentrated energy right out of the middle, between the two prongs. The blast flies across the area faster than I can track it and strikes a tree. Immediately, the tree bursts into flame and the trunk splits. It falls down onto an unsuspecting Cyberus in the back of the group. It screeches and starts clawing at the branches.

OK, I think I know how this works now. I turn both dials to max, aim for the Cyberus breaking up the fallen tree, and fire. The energy blast barely hits the Cyberus, and it starts screeching in pain. I hit its left head, which has been pierced through, and is somewhat melting. Not even metal like Dextronium can take this blast of plasma. Well, I'm assuming the metal the Cyberusses are made out of is Dextronium. Everything Dexlabs makes is mostly Dextronium.

I turn back to Ben, who, as Upgrade, has enveloped himself around a Cyberus. He's merged with it and turned it into his own work. It's black and green, its claws and fangs are sharper, and the Omnitrix symbol is similarly on the face of the center head. It's clawing at other Cyberusses. Clever idea, using your enemies against them. I can tell that the Cyberus Ben has taken control over is attempting to resist, as every so often, part of Upgrade bursts off of it, allowing it to try to take control again. It will claw, but Ben will quickly envelop it again. The clawing does seem to hurt Ben slightly, but he's determined to finish off the Cyberusses near him before letting go of this one. I help Ben by blasting at the Cyberusses around him. I get a couple hits on them, although I'm still trying to get the hang of this.

I notice something strange about the larger Cyberus: It's completely ignoring us. It's walking to the time machine. Once it reaches it, the Mega-Cyberus starts clawing into it. The claws create huge marks in the metal, completely slashing up the Dexlabs logo. It reaches into the machine and starts dragging it toward the cliff. It's trying to destroy it! The giant Cyberus speaks to me, in that booming, demonic voice yet again:

 _ **"You won't be needing this anymore…"**_

I blast at the giant Cyberus's center head, but it moves just enough so that its right head is hit instead. The Mega-Cyberus - that's what I'm going to call it until I hear otherwise - grunts, but doesn't screech and squeal, unlike all the other Cyberusses I've blasted with this thing. It continues moving toward the cliff. I look momentarily to Ben and Numbuh Five and see they're finishing off the last normal-sized Cyberus. I turn back to the Mega-Cyberus, who is winding up to throw the time machine's remains over the cliff. I blast it multiple times in the side, but that doesn't stop it from throwing it over the cliff, and out toward the green liquid. Dang, the Mega-Cyberus threw the time machine far! That's at least hundreds of yards! It makes a large splash when it hits the ground. That's when I realize... if the time machine is destroyed, how will I ever get back? I'm stuck here! In this horrifying apocalypse!

Enraged, I blast more beams of plasma at the Mega-Cyberus, which is staring directly at me. The beams hit the Mega-Cyberus in the left head, chest and left front leg. It doesn't even flinch. It's about to lunge at me, but there's another green flash from my right. I hear a weird whirring sound, before a big yellow ball flies past me, and right into the Mega-Cyberus. The ball hits it with enough force to push it off the cliff and into the green toxic stuff. I hear the Mega-Cyberus screech before I hear another splash.

The ball unravels itself, showing that the yellow parts are just armor platings on its back, shoulders, and arms. It turns around to reveal the rest of itself. It's purely white, except for a jet black stripe going down the middle. Its forehead is also black. The head… well… the way the alien looks is that the head and torso are basically connected. The shoulders are coming from the top left and right of its "main body", the head and torso. This is another alien at Ben's disposal. It's Cannonbolt.

"We need to get out of here now!" Ben says before Numbuh Five runs toward him. I guess I'm doing the same thing. I run to where Numbuh Five is, which is directly in front of Ben. Only a second after I go in front of Ben, I realize what he's going to do. Everything darkens as Ben curls himself around us into the yellow protective ball. We start rolling, but at least here, I'm not as dizzy. But I can still feel movement. We roll and roll and roll, and bounce off something. I even hear a screech at some point. After a minute of rolling, we finally stop, and he unfolds himself to let us leave. Numbuh Five walks out without a problem, but I suffer a similar dizziness to when Ben brought us to the time machine as XLR8. I've gotten Cannonbolt-sick. It takes all my might not to throw up. There's another green flash. As I get up and resist the sensation of everything spinning, I look and see Ben's in his human form again. Where am I now?

The first thing I see when I look around is a bunch of massive solar panels, all lined up behind the sidewalk. There are lots of them lined up on the left and right sides of the small park I'm next to, from my perspective. The park has many benches, trees and a large fountain in the center. The fountain, which is no longer emitting water, has a life-size statue of Dexter, Dexter's rival Mandark, and Computress on the top. This is definitely Tech Square. However, there are clear differences between the Tech Square back then and this Tech Square. First off, many of the solar panels have collapsed and broken. The land in the park has distorted and shifted, with the land bulging upward into small hills or sinking into pits. There are tents almost everywhere in and around the park, where people are moving around or sleeping in. Some tents are medical tents, containing people. But the most obvious difference is that ¾ of the way down the park, all the island goes straight up at least 50 or 60 feet. Dexlabs is high up there, whereas the rest of Tech Square and Mandark Industries is below. There's also what appears to be a crevice between the land down where I'm at and the land above. The crevice is blocked off by what appears to be force fields that pulsate upward for about 20 feet and stop there.

I turn around to see what state Mandark Industries is in, and it's completely destroyed. There is no other way to describe how ruined this building is without going into extreme detail. Here are some of the main details: the steel has been torn to pieces and claw marks are nearly everywhere in it. The concrete has been destroyed to such an extent that it's all just dust. The Mandark Industries sign is nothing more but just the "M" on the far left. The rest is completely torn off. Of course, this is all I can see above the large wooden barrier with force fields between the safe zone and the outside. I turn back to Ben and Numbuh Five, who are running to someone else, by one of the giant solar panels about 20 feet away. This person is almost the complete polar opposite of Numbuh Five in terms of physique: He's short and very overweight. Aside from that, I can tell he's wearing a blue shirt, brown pants, and white shoes. He's wearing a brown flight cap on his head, and it looks like he's wearing goggles. Once again, I'm hit with a strange sense of familiarity, even though I know for certain that I've never seen this guy in my life. And why is the number "780" popping up in my mind?

I run with Ben and Numbuh Five to this other person. As I run closer, I can see he is indeed wearing gray goggles with yellow lenses. His flight cap has the number "2" on the center. He's working on something strange. It's a dark green camper vehicle, except with jets attached to it, no wheels, and the front has been altered to the point where it looks more like the front of a plane than a camper. There's a deep gash cutting through the wall, all the way down to one of the lower jets, which is leaking oil. The person turns around and sees us.

"Ben, Abby! You made it!" The person says. His eyes trail to me. "Who's this other kid?"

"He was part of Dexter's time travel experiment a couple years ago, and he just arrived here," Numbuh Five says. Wait, I've gone YEARS into the future? Actually, I'm not that surprised, considering this level of destruction wouldn't happen in just a few days. I'll have a lot of catching up to do.

"What happened here, Numbuh Two?" Ben says. So this other guy is "Numbuh Two"? Does that mean there's a "Numbuh" 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and so on somewhere else?

"Before we got to Tech Square, our SCAMPER was attacked by a squad of Tech Wings and Cyberusses," Numbuh Two says. "We managed to get away from the squad before it could tear us apart. The whole thing, though, felt planned. It felt as if they were waiting for us, and knew where we were at every given moment. And that leads me to believe that that attack was no accident."

"Well, what do you think is going on?" Numbuh Five asks.

"Well, during the evacuation of the Skypad Spaceport base, one of our SCAMPERs got shot down," Numbuh Two says. "That SCAMPER contained a transmitter that was linked to the last few KND and GPS satellites. One of the people on the SCAMPER survived and managed to get away, but not before she saw an Oil Ogre appear, look through the SCAMPER and take the transmitter. Fuse is probably using it right now as we speak."

I've been hearing this "Fuse" name a few times now, and it's really confusing me, but then again, everything is confusing now. I was told that all of this would be explained once we got here, so maybe I'll get some answers now.

"Who is this 'Fuse' guy?" I ask. Numbuh Two looks at me with confusion momentarily but then remembers that I've never seen any of this before.

"OK, so Fuse is pretty much the big bad guy," Numbuh Five says. "He's the one controlling every single monster he's got. If he wants, he can see what they see or even take control of them. If Fuse has taken control of a monster, it'll be pretty obvious since he'll speak in this loud, thundering voice-"

"I heard that when I was being chased by the Tech Wing," I say. "The giant Cyberus and its smaller counterparts also talked to me in that voice."

"Interesting," Numbuh Two says. "Fuse never talks to us through his monsters that frequently, if at all. He must have been really fascinated about you, and how you ended up here out of the blue... or should I say, out of the green!" Numbuh Two chuckles a bit. Was he trying to make a joke? Because if so, that wasn't exactly a good joke. It looks like Numbuh Five and Ben agree with me on that thought, as Numbuh Five takes her hat off and slaps him with it before putting it back on.

"Ow! But in all seriousness, we need to put off this sort of discussion until a better time," Numbuh Two says. "Fuse's monsters could be using that transmitter to broadcast our position, plan attacks and cause serious, unexpected damage. So we need to find them and get that transmitter back ASAP!"

"Do you know where it is?" Ben asks.

"Well, a survivor of the attack said the monsters headed toward Steam Alley. The transmitter might be there."

"On it!" Ben says, but before he can turn alien, I say, "I want to help too."

"What?" Numbuh Two says. "It'll be too dangerous! And you just got here!"

"I'm not going to run out of this area straight into them," I say. "I just want to help out in one way or another. And if something dangerous does goes down, I'm pretty sure I can defend myself with this... uh… what exactly is this called, Numbuh Five? After all, you gave it to me."

"Eh, Numbuh Five is not really sure what it is," Numbuh Five says. It's still strange how she sometimes refers to herself the way she does. "All Dexter really told me about it was a prototype of sorts, for a lightning gun or something. You can give it whatever name you want."

Alright, seems like I can name it. Hmm... What should I call it... Actually, what Numbuh Five said sounds kinda cool. "Lightning Gun"... I like that name. It sounds as if I'm harnessing the power of an electric storm or something, and those things can be deadly.

"Anyway, I want to help you guys at least find the transmitter!" I say. "I just want to know what I need to do."

"Numbuh Five will probably lead a scout team to determine the transmitter's location. We're not going to be near any of the hot spots for Fusion activity, so it shouldn't be too dangerous," Numbuh Five says, slightly unsure of my decision. I still want to go, not because I want to put myself in danger, but because I want to make sure that nobody else gets hurt or killed as a result of these attacks. The transmitter is revealing the positions of people, and if Numbuh Two said Fuse has a "hivemind" connection, if just one monster sees the location and Fuse decides to look through that monster's eyes, every single one of his monsters could potentially know that location if Fuse wanted to tell them.

"Alright, let's start getting ready," I say. I recheck both diasl, and yep, they're both still at max. These monsters will be in for a treat. A very shocking and painful treat. Well, I think these monsters will feel pain because the previous ones I shot at screeched when the burst hit them.

"Hey, kid!" Numbuh Two says. I turn toward him. "I want to get you something!" He walks into the camper vehicle with jets, and I follow him. Once inside, I look around the vehicle, and notice it's been changed significantly from a normal camper vehicle. There are shelves full of weaponry, crates in the back on and under shelves, and communication equipment near the front, right before what looks like the cockpit. Numbuh Two is near the back, digging through a shelf for something. Eventually, he finds what he was looking for, and brings out another watch-like device similar to the communicator I had. He looks at me. "Come on!"

I walk over. "What is that? Is it something I need?"

"This is a standard-issue NanoCom, made by Dexlabs and Mandark Industries. It has the ability to perform a wide variety of functions, from communications to data storage to holographic mapping, and other really neat feats! I'm sure you'll find out all about them very soon."

I then ask, "Oh, and by the way, what exactly is this vehicle called?"

Numbuh Two smiles, and says, "This is called a **S.C.A.M.P.E.R** , which also means, Shabby Camper Actually Makes Perfect Emergency Rescuemabob!"

I stand there for a few seconds. That acronym is weird. "Uh... Okay."

Numbuh Five comes into the vehicle and gets a new special pistol out of the shelf across from the entrance. It's mostly bluish, with some parts like the handle being dark blue, and the rest being light blue. It looks like part of the front of the gun contains a popsicle, surrounded by a transparent material with wires in it. These wires lead to the front of the gun, which has a pointy end. I wonder what that gun does.

"Just give Numbuh Five a bit to mobilize the scout team," Numbuh Five says. We walk outside and I sit down against the SCAMPER. I think back to that Mega-Cyberus throwing that time machine into the... green stuff. Unless we somehow get it back, I'm trapped here, in this future. Maybe I could go back if the time machine was rebuilt, but I don't know if Dexter's still alive. I guess I'll find point soon enough.

After a few minutes, everyone seems ready to go. Numbuh Five walks up to me and says, "Hey, kid. We're ready." We walk over to a force-field gate. There are about 10 to 15 other people at the gate, each of whom have the letters "KND" crudely painted on their helmets. The people also have thick, dark blue clothing with a black steel chestplate, black shoulder plates, yellow gloves, boots, kneecaps, and elbow caps. Once we arrive at the gate, Numbuh Five looks up to another person, wearing the same armor and helmet as the other people. The helmeted guy takes a look behind us, nods, and flips a switch on a control panel. The hum of the force field in that area slowly goes away as it shuts down. The large wooden gate opens right afterward. And Numbuh Five, the rest of the scout team and I walk into the destroyed city that was Townsville.


	4. The Transmitter

**Mark**

Not even a moment after the gate shuts behind us, I am at a loss for words. I never thought I would see a more destroyed Townsville than I am seeing now. Even when Mojo's monkey army started destroying the city, it wasn't as bad as this. Sure, most of the buildings were damaged or on fire, but this is almost 10 times worse. Every 15 feet, there are ruins of a building. Some have tilted over and hit other buildings. However, not many buildings are burning in this area; they're just destroyed. Cars are all over the place, some turned over, some burning and others reduced to near skeletons. I could go on describing this destruction for a very long time, days maybe. There's a large river of the green liquid flowing downward on our right, with buildings submerged into it. And that's just what I can see in this small portion of the city. As I've said before, Townsville is absolutely gigantic.

I remain careful to watch my step here, as there are shards of glass everywhere. My fingers are very close to my Lightning Gun's trigger, so that if anything comes, I'll be ready. Numbuh Five and one of the people in the scout team are walking a tiny bit ahead of us, talking about where in Steam Alley the transmitter could be. Not really knowing exactly what to say, I am just looking around, unsure of what's going to happen next. I still want to know what is going on, and being left in the dark about all of it is starting to get to me. How am I supposed to contribute if I don't know what I'm up against? Hold on, it looks like all of the operatives are stopping for a bit. I'm going to ask them now. I go up to them and I ask: "Hey, um, Numbuh Five?"

Numbuh Five and the other operative turn around and look toward me. The other operative has grey eyes, much like my friend Lucas. Unlike some of the other operatives, he has a specific number painted on his helmet, and it's... 1337. I nearly chuckle when I see that, but I stop myself before that can happen.

"Yeah? What's going on?" she asks.

"I just..." I hesitate, not sure if I should continue. But I need to know what's happening. "I just really need to know what's going on with everything!"

"Um, couldn't we talk about this at a better time?" Numbuh Five asks. The second operative, "Numbuh 1337", gives me a weird look. Oh yeah, he doesn't know what happened to me. Numbuh Five notices the weird look too, because she says to him, "The kid doesn't know about the invasion."

"How could he not know-" Numbuh 1337 starts saying, before Numbuh Five cuts him off:

"Remember that time machine fiasco around 2.5 years ago?" Numbuh Five asks. Wait... 2.5 YEARS? I've gone that far into the future? "He was in that, and now he's here."

"Huh..." the other operative says. "So wait, you don't know anything?"

"Well, I know a few things, but I don't know nearly enough to be helpful. That's why I want to know what's going on, because I'll never know exactly what I'm supposed to do unless I know what these things are, what they're capable of, and what's been going on. I want to know at least a few major things."

"OK, what do you want to know about first?" Numbuh 1337 asks.

"Well, let's start with that up there," I say, pointing to the large green planet in the sky. "What exactly is that?"

"That up there, Mark, is Planet Fusion," Numbuh Five says. "It's ruled by that Fuse guy. It's where every bad thing that's been attacking our planet for years comes from. From what intel we've been able to gather about it, it's been traveling through our galaxy for maybe billions of years. When it finds a planet, it infects it with the gross green goo you've been seeing everywhere. That's called Fusion Matter."

"Fusion Matter?" I ask.

Numbuh Five nods, before continuing: "Also, under certain circumstances, Fusion Matter can come to life in the form of Fusion Spawns, which wreak havoc everywhere!"

"Fusion Spawns?" I ask. "You mean, those green, bouncy spheres with red eyes?"

"Yeah, pretty much that."

"So, the Fusion Spawns are made out of Fusion Matter... but what about the other monsters? The Cyberus? The Tech Wing?"

"Those are the result of Fusion Spawns merging with Dexter's drones," Numbuh 1337 says. "You see, Fuse's monsters are able to adapt to a planet by 'fusing' with its technology, or pretty much anything on the planet. Cyberus and Tech Wings are only a few of the various Monsters that are created from Spawns merging with stuff. You could have a Fusion Monster made from a TV, or a car, or a computer, or a bulldozer, you name it. You should see some of the kinds of monsters that can be created when Fusion Spawns merge with stuff. But don't get too close, obviously. Also, make sure you don't have any prized possessions on you when confronting Fusion Spawns, because if it steals and merges with something someone holds dear, then there's going to be a problem because a Fusion was just created."

"Fusion?" I ask. "But isn't Fusion the name of the planet?"

"No," Numbuh 1337 says. He points to Planet Fusion. "That is indeed called Planet Fusion, but what I'm talking about are _Fusions_. Basically, Fusions are... evil, twisted versions of us. Say, imagine a Fusion Dexter, or a Fusion of Numbuh Five, or a Fusion of Ben. Even a Fusion of you could be created if a Fusion Spawn merged with a prized possession of yours. The personality of Fusions is usually very different from the original person, and more toward helping Fuse conquer the planet. Now, you should probably not fight Fusions if you don't need to, as depending on what person they become a Fusion of, they can range from somewhat dangerous to... dangerous enough to kill you in one hit. It's never safe when fighting a Fusion unless you have a lot of experience."

"Yeah, and Numbuh Five doesn't mean to sound rude, but... it's clear you don't have experience with fighting Fuse's minions," Numbuh Five says. "So if anything comes up involving a Fusion, you should probably leave it for us to take care of until you are better prepared for those missions."

"What about the pods? The weird ones covered in vines that the Spawns apparently seem to come out of?"

"Those things are called Terrafusers. They come down from Planet Fusion and have the potential of causing a lot of destruction when hitting the Earth. Once on the planet, they'll start pumping Fusion Matter into the ground and Fusion Spawns will come out of them as well. Terrafusers are pretty much impossible to destroy once they reach the surface, and they constantly come down and bring Fuse's monsters to Earth. And every time a Terrafuser lands, the infection gets worse and worse. And once the infection reaches a certain point, Planet Fusion will be able to consume our world completely. And then, it'll move on to the next world. As Numbuh Five said, it's been doing this for maybe billions of years."

"And I assume the infection is close to reaching the point where it'll be able to... absorb us?" I ask. I mean, it must be really close if the oceans are entirely Fusion Matter. But how do they get water or food? They must be able to somehow.

"We believe so, and we've been trying to slow down the infection for as long as possible," Numbuh 1337 says. "Now, we don't really have time to explain anything else, as every second we wait, Fuse finds out more and more about our location."

"No, no, it's fine," I say. "Thanks for giving me some information, though."

So, I'm apparently in the future, where an alien planet called Planet Fusion, led by something called "Fuse", that has control over a substance called "Fusion Matter". And he brings down that substance via "Terrafusers" that come down and infect the Earth, and will eventually allow Planet Fusion to completely absorb it. Wow... While it is a lot of information to take in at once, that would be an awesome idea for an alien invasion movie if it wasn't actually happening right now. I mean, instead of aliens coming from their faraway planet to attack us, they're bringing their entire planet to us. How did they get it here? Does it travel through space the long way, just floating through? Or did it go through a portal? It must have revealed itself to us not long after I left because this situation feels like it's been going on for years, which seems to be how far I've gone in the future. OK, enough contemplating about this for the time being. I need to help find the transmitter.

After walking for a while we arrive at a small park area with a fountain in the center. There are two intersecting paths that meet where the fountain is. It is clear this area has been abandoned for a while because most of the trees and bushes are spreading farther past where they should be, and grass is coming out of the holes in the path. Speaking of the plant life here, some of it has mutated slightly, as some of the trees are thicker, have no leaves, and have bright, large yellow spots on them.

"Alright, group. We'll hold our position until further orders," Numbuh Five says. We all proceed to sit down somewhere. I manage to get one of the benches. Oh wow, it feels a lot better sitting down after running around like that and walking for the past... I don't even know how much time has passed. I wasn't really focusing on that.

"Hey, kid," Numbuh Five says. I turn to her. She's holding out a silver canteen, which is likely filled with water.

"No thanks, I'm alright," I say. I look around more to see if any monsters are nearby, then back to Numbuh Five. She's still holding out the canteen.

"You ran from a bunch of Cyberusses and Tech Wings, didn't you? You used up a lot of energy, and you'll need energy for whatever might come next."

She's right. Now that I think about it, I am pretty thirsty. That run through the streets and office building was a pretty big workout. I wasn't even thinking about water. I take the silver canteen and take a drink, keeping in mind to have the water pour out of the canteen into my mouth instead of putting my mouth against it. I don't drink that much water, though. I don't want to use it all up.

"Thanks," I say as I put the cap back on the canteen and hand it back to Numbuh Five. I put my hands to my sides and notice something's in my side pocket. I take the object out and notice it's my phone. Wow, I didn't even realize I had it with me! The first thing that comes to the version of me before the time machine incident is, "Take pictures!" I turn my phone on and check the battery. It's at around half battery or so. Hopefully, they still have phone chargers, because if not, I'll have to take pictures sparingly. I look around with my phone and take pictures of Planet Fusion in the sky, the destroyed buildings, the mutated trees, and the large fountain. I wonder how my friends would react if I were to show them these pictures. Evan would probably-

Wait! Evan! Amanda! My friends! I need to call them to let them know I'm alive. And Andrew! Jade! Mom! Dad! I need to call them as well so they all know! Of course, that's assuming they're alive, which seems unlikely, but there is no reason to give up hope. I find Evan's number on my phone and immediately press the "CALL" button. I wait, wait, and wait, but I never hear the sound that lets me know the phone is ringing on their side.

"Are you trying to call someone?" Numbuh Five says.

"Yeah, I'm trying to call my friend Evan," I say.

"Most of the communications satellites were attacked and destroyed by Terrafusers, so you probably won't get a connection. But most of the systems that were in the phones are now in the NanoCom because it has the functions of everything a phone has plus many more things. It works a lot better than your phone and is also connected to the secret KND satellites most Dexlabs phones aren't able to connect to. You could call your friend on the NanoCom, but I would not advise you to do so now. We need to be ready for anything to happen at any time."

I activate the NanoCom that's on my wrist, and a large, holographic screen pops up above it. The first thing I see is the time: **"12:32 PM"**. The date below says... hold up... it says, **"January 14, 2019".** OK, so I've gone 2 years and 7.5 months into the future, specifically. There are several options to choose from, such as **"CONTACTS"** , **"NANO SYSTEMS"** , **"MAP"** , and so on. I click **"CONTACTS"** , and see a large grid of blank slots. On the bottom left, there's an **"ADD CONTACT"** button. I press that, and a holo-keyboard shows up. I type in Evan's number, and his name appears at the top of the contact list. But Numbuh Five said I shouldn't call him yet. I'll wait until I get back to Tech Square. I hear a notification sound, and Numbuh Five appears below Evan on my list. I look up, and Numbuh Five is doing something on her NanoCom. Then I get a notification: Numbuh Five wants me to add her to my contact list.

"Just in case something happens and our group gets separated," she says. I guess that makes sense. I nod, accept the request, and go back to the menu, and click what intrigues me the most: " **NANO SYSTEMS"**. Once I click that, I'm greeted by three disc-shaped holograms all next to each other. Each of them has a number on the bottom: 1, 2 and 3. Above each of those circles is a **"SUMMON"** button. The top of the holo-screen shows a button called **"NANO COLLECTION"**. I'm interested as to how this works, but I don't seem to have anything in this part of the system. I leave **"NANO SYSTEMS"** and go to **"MAP"**.

Suddenly, a gigantic 3-D projection of the surrounding area appears above the NanoCom. I can see the small park Numbuh Five and I are in, and the surrounding buildings. I look to the bottom of the holo-screen and see controls for zooming out and moving around. I zoom out and continue to until I see a large portion of Steam Alley, the industrial district of Townsville.

Beep. Beep. Numbuh Five's communicator goes off. She answers immediately. "What is your report, Ben?"

"There is immense Fusion activity at the Dark Engine," Ben says. "The transmitter might be there. We'll need to call in some backup for this. Stay there unless you need to move. We don't have many SCAMPERs left in this area, so it might take a while to get a fleet incoming."

"Alright. Stand by," Numbuh Five says. The call ends after that.

"What is the Dark Engine?" I ask.

"You know the main hovercar factory in Eastern Townsville?" Numbuh Five asks.

"Uh, yeah."

"A nasty, large Terrafuser crashed into that factory and transformed it into a Fusion assembly line. It's one of the main Fusion bases in the Eastern part of Townsville, and it mostly makes disgusting Oil Ogres-"

She looks behind me, goes silent, and draws her ice pistol. Then behind me, I hear screeching followed by blaster fire. I turn around and see a bunch of weird creatures I haven't seen yet, coming from the southern area of the small park. They are similarly made out of Fusion Matter. They have spikes on their heads, going down the back of their neck in a straight line. They have large noses and horns on the sides of their heads. They have large arms, but no legs. They look like they are sliding along the ground and using their arms to move. To top it off, these creatures are wearing chest-plates and shoulder-plates that look like pieces of a large steam engine. These have to be the "Oil Ogres" Numbuh Five was talking about. There have to be at least 30 of these guys coming toward us. I see one of them forming a ball of green stuff between its hands, before blasting it toward me. I'm tackled to the ground by Numbuh Five, and the blast of what I think is Fusion Matter passes by, inches from my face. Once we hit the ground, she gets up lightning-fast and starts blasting alongside the rest of the scout team. At the same time, Numbuh Five says, "Call Ben Tennyson!" into her NanoCom. A few seconds later, Ben answers.

"Ben, we're under attack! We need backup now!" Numbuh Five says.

"On my way!" Ben says afterward. I get my Lightning Gun, jump up again and start blasting the Fusion Spawns and Oil Ogres. How did these guys know where we were? Wait, they said the transmitter is able to determine the location of people. It must have found our position! How much more of them are probably after us? There must be more than what I'm seeing. I keep blasting as many Oil Ogres as I can, but I'm having some trouble. The Oil Ogres are constantly moving and dodging my blasts, and they seem to be taking a lot more damage without dying. I see a green flash on my right, and something lands on the ground. It's a green humanoid alien with fire coming out of spots on the shoulders and forearms. The fingers aren't green, but golden-yellow. His head has red, yellow and orange colors. This is Ben, in the form of the alien Swampfire. From what I've heard, Swampfire was the first of the "new 10" he unlocked when the Omnitrix "recalibrated itself".

Immediately, fire starts blasting out of Swampfire's hands. The Oil Ogres screech as they are instantly set alight. Some Oil Ogres attempt to attack Swampfire, but it always results in more fire and explosions. The explosions set off a chain reaction, resulting in most of the front forces blowing up. Flaming shards of metal fly into the air as the Oil Ogres retreat into a heavily damaged building to Ben's right, and in front of us. More explosions of fire within there cause the windows to shatter and send glass toward us. Glass flies past me as I dive toward the bench. I feel cold from the adrenaline, and I look down to see some of the glass shards flew close enough to me to cut some of my clothing, but thankfully none of the skin. I'm in a panic right now; we're starting to lose control over the situation. I peek over the edge of the bench and see the lower side of the building facing us is burning, broken. Then creaking noises. I look up as more explosions take place. The top of the building in front of us is... moving toward us. Numbuh Five notices this too and we start running. We run to the left, out of its path. Run, run, run. And all I hear is the deafening crash of the building. I'm surrounded by even more dust. It blows me forward and I fall onto the street. The dust is so thick I can't even tell where I am. I can't tell north from south, east from west, but only up from down.

I hear gurgling sounds and screeches near me. I jump up and frantically aim my Lightning Gun around. I see one of the Oil Ogres through the dust, and fire multiple times. It screeches out when I hit it, and it moves away from me. I then run, but I don't know where to go. I can't see where I'm going.

"Numbuh Five!" I yell. "NUMBUH FIVE!" I put my mouth and nose back in my shirt to prevent breathing in too much dust. If she's trying to respond, I can't hear it from the wind and dust. I guess I'm on my own again for now. My mouth and nose still in my shirt, I try to look around, but I can barely see anything. I see a building in front of me that doesn't seem to have collapsed. I run to it and try to find a door. I can hear gurgling sounds and screeches. I immediately turn to it and see the silhouettes of Oil Ogres moving down the street. They don't seem to notice me, so I don't fire. I stay close to the building's wall as I move down the street, all the while if there are doors. I find a door, but it starts opening automatically. I hear a grunt and turn just in time to see bright green show up in the silhouettes. I run through the automatic door as a ball of Fusion Matter blows out the window on my right. The power is definitely out because there's no light in here. Only darkness.

I'm in a large shop of sorts. Maybe Malph's or something. I run past empty shelves and unoccupied stands before I hide behind the one farthest back from the entrance. I peek behind it to see three Oil Ogres enter, and I ready my Lightning Gun. Well, they're slow, at least, so I'll have a slightly easier time escaping them. But they can fire blasts of that Fusion Matter, which compensates for their slowness. I need to come up with a distraction of some sort to get away. Then I'll find a safe place and contact Numbuh Five. Hopefully, she'll be able to trace my location. I look around for something on the shelf I'm hiding behind. There's a bunch of glass jars right in front of me. That'll do as a distraction. I take one of the jars, back up a few steps and throw it as hard as I can over the shelf. I hear it shatter not that long afterward, four or five aisles away from me. I hear the Oil Ogres grunt in confusion and start moving toward where the shattering noise happened. I momentarily peek over the edge and see a trail of Fusion Matter from the store entrance to the aisle they're heading into. I count the aisles. Yeah, it's five aisles away from me. I'll throw another one to see if I can get it farther away from my aisle, and I'll have a longer time to get out of this store. Where will I go, though?

I assess my surroundings. There's no door in the produce section behind me, and I have no idea where the doors to the left of me go. I can see "Emergency Exit" on one of the doors. I'll take that. I take another jar and quietly back up away from the shelf again. I throw it, but my aim is a bit off, and the glass jar comes in contact with the sign above the aisle right next to me, causing a loud crashing noise before flying into some other aisle and shattering. Uh-oh. I hear screeches, pounding noises, and crashing sounds. They know I'm here now. Are they breaking down the aisle shelves? I don't want to waste time finding out. I immediately run for the "Emergency Exit" door. I don't even turn around, but I'm certain they're pushing the shelves down. I continue running and open the emergency exit door. The alarms start blaring through the building as I run through a small hallway to another door that also says "EMERGENCY EXIT". I turn around and see the Oil Ogres' shadows coming toward the hallway. I aim my Lightning Gun at the doorway and just start blind firing over and over again. Blast after blast of plasma hits the floor and small shelf that I can see in the doorway. One of the blasts hits an Oil Ogre, and it shrieks out. My back hits the door behind me. I turn around and run into the alley outside as quickly as possible. Only milliseconds afterward, I slam the door shut. I then run to the other side of the alleyway and fire at the door and everything around it, causing small explosions and blasts of heat. The door and wall begin to melt slightly and heat up. That'll slow them down for a while. I de-activate my NanoCom so that they hopefully won't be able to track me, and I finally take a look around as to where I am.

I'm in an alleyway of some sort. A heavily trashed alley. There's garbage cans toppled over, pieces of paper rolling across the ground and much more. I can see the dust from the collapsed building on one of the streets within the alley, as well as in the green sky. Given that this place is an alley, it makes sense that there is graffiti all over the walls. The ground is not concrete, but a brick path, similar to the alleyway I saw before. I see spray paint cans and paint cans lying in some places of the alley, left there in a rather rushed way, as if whoever wrote this graffiti didn't have enough time before he had to leave. While most of the graffiti on the walls are either incomprehensible or vulgar, one thing piques my interest. I can smell fresh paint, even though most of this graffiti looks like it should have dried up long ago. I walk around trying to find the source of the smell. and then I see it.

There's a part of the wall where all graffiti that would have been there is nearly erased, and in its place are three words, painted in turquoise, which say: **"FOLLOW THE PATH"**. There's an arrow under the words pointing to the left. Who wrote this? Was it meant for me? The smell of fresh paint is much stronger over here then when I left the building. I move closer to inspect the words and take a picture of them with my phone. I turn around and see something even crazier. It's the same spray-painting I saw my dream only an hour or so ago. The figure is huge, probably 10 feet tall. It looks like an amateur stick figure shape, but it seems oddly fitting, because the words below say, **"YOUR GUARDIAN"**. The surrounding graffiti is exactly the same as in my dream. I was meant to see this. I take another picture of this part of the graffiti, and when I look at the photo... it's from the same angle that I saw it in my dream... This is crazy. I look back to the "FOLLOW THE PATH" graffiti, and follow the arrow to somewhere I don't know. But if the Guardian believes it's safe, then I'm not completely worried.

* * *

 ** _12:40 PM_**

I've been walking down the brick path, through the streets and alleys, for several minutes. I keep my ears sharp in case one of those monsters approaches. At every step, I try to be as quiet as possible, so if anything is out there, they'll have the lowest chance of hearing me. I cross yet another barren street. I've been traveling southeast now, closer to wherever this path leads. I'll know I'll have reached the end when I start going northwest. The path continues to go more southward than eastward, which leads me to believe I've getting closer to wherever this path is leading me to. I reach a point where I take a right, and there are no more buildings on my left. Just an infinite Fusion sea. I stand there for a bit. Even now, it's hard to believe this is real, but this is too consistent to be a dream. And if it were a nightmare, I'd probably have woken up when the Cyberusses cornered me on the roof of that building.

A noise comes from my right. I swiftly turn and aim my Lightning Gun at where the noise came from, just in time to see the shadow of an Oil Ogre on the wall at the far end of the path going back in. I go into the alleyway on my right and peek at where the Oil Ogre is coming from. I don't know if it's alone. If it is, I might be able to take it out, but if there's more than that, I'll probably just hide until they pass by. The Oil Ogre appears and starts heading my direction. Looks like he is alone. I sneak my way farther into the branching alley and hide behind one of the dumpsters. I get ready to fire as soon as he passes by. If he passes by, of course. I hear it moving along the path. Closer, closer... I'm getting rather nervous, because as soon as I see anything come up near me, my finger will be on the trigger faster than XLR8 can zoom from one side of Townsville to the other. The noise of it sliding along the ground is even closer than I think it should be. I think it's coming down the alleyway I'm in. I'm about to jump out and blast the Oil Ogre, but I hear the noises receding. It's continuing along the path. I get out from behind the dumpster and sneak to the path again. I look to where the Oil Ogre is going and see it heading farther down the path, in the direction I came from. What stops me from immediately firing on the Oil Ogre while it's unaware of my presence is the fact it has something on its back. It looks like a Dexlabs device, as it's mostly dark blue and light blue, except for a ring of orange near the top. This apparatus is circular, wider at the top and thinner at the bottom, and has a small screen and control panel on the side facing me. Is this thing the transmitter? This Oil Ogre is all alone with it. I waste no time and start firing at it.

I blast the Oil Ogre in places where I hopefully won't damage the transmitter. After all, Numbuh Two said he wanted the transmitter to be found and presumably brought back intact, not destroyed. As soon as the first plasma bolt hits one of the Oil Ogre's giant arms, it shrieks out at me. I get two more blasts into the Oil Ogre's side and one in its chestplate as it turns around before I run into the other alleyway and hide behind the dumpster again. I'm luring it in so that when it's defeated, it won't drop the transmitter in the Fusion Matter. I then hear a voice coming from the Oil Ogre. The booming voice. Well, I now know it to be Fuse's voice.

 _ **"So it's you again,"** _ the voice says. _**"The one who came from the time machine... Are you going to hide like you always do? Come out already!"**_

Yep, he knows it's me. I say nothing. I can't do anything at this point. It's too close to the edge right now.

 _ **"I said... COME OUT!"**_

I hear something from where the Oil Ogre is. I dive out from behind the dumpster as a ball of Fusion Matter hits it. That energy blast sends it flying 30, 40, maybe 50 feet. The dumpster flies through the air and into the chain-link fence separating the alley and the street, tearing it completely open. The dumpster then hits one of the abandoned cars with enough force to send it moving as well, but not as much. I turn back and the Oil Ogre is firing up its second blast. I jump out of the way, just in time as I feel the blast careen past my head. The Oil Ogre quickly crawls its way toward me. It tries to swipe at me, but I dodge its attack and blast it again in its arm.

 _ **"Do you really think you stand a chance against us?"**_ It says. It swipes at me again, this time actually hitting me. I get knocked backward, the Lightning Gun flies out of my hands, and I land in a pile of trash cans. Ow... that hurt. I look around for the Lightning Gun. It's around 10 feet away from me. I run up and grab it, then turn to the Oil Ogre and fire again. I get two shots in before it charges up another shot. I barely dodge it. The Fusion blast hits the chain-link fence, tearing another hole in it.

 _ **"Even if you manage to destroy this one minion of mine, it won't change a thing. You are-"**_

I get another shot, and this time, it hits one of its horns. This disorients it for a second, allowing me to get another shot in before it slithers its way toward me again.

 _ **"You are trapped here... I destroyed your time machine... You'll never be able to go back..."**_

"I don't care what you have to say, you know!" I say before I blast it another time. I'm angered that it's poking fun at me being stuck in this future. "I'm going to get that transmitter from you!"

 _ **"Oh, you want this?"**_ It takes the transmitter off its back and puts it on the ground. _**"Well, lucky you. It's fulfilled its purpose."**_

I blast the Oil Ogre yet another time, and then again. The second blast hits it in the head. It shrieks out and rushes at me faster than I've seen it ever do before, grabs me with its gigantic arms, turns around and throws me down the alley, toward the Fusion Matter. I hit the ground and roll across it before stopping. OK, that hurt even worse than before. I don't bother checking myself to make sure I'm OK. I look around desperately for my Lightning Gun. It's really close to the drop-off over the cliff. I get up and try to run for the Lightning Gun, but collapse from exhaustion. I have to crawl to get it. The Oil Ogre looks like it's been weakened, too. It's crawling much more slowly because I turn around every so often and it's not moving as quickly. I get to the exit of the alley, and can hear the Oil Ogre getting closer and closer. The Lightning Gun is only feet away from me now. I reach as far as my arm can get to try and grab it. I feel large hands wrap around me right as I get my hand on the handle, which I grip as tight as I can. It picks me up with both its arms and I feel pressure. It's trying to crush me. I am the Lightning Gun directly at it and hold the trigger down. The blast hits it right between the eyes, and the beam goes right through it.

The Oil Ogre stops and groans. It starts to... liquefy. I feel less pressure around my torso as it "melts" and eventually, I fall through its arms and land on the ground. I get up and back up slowly, keeping my Lightning Gun aimed at it. The Oil Ogre looks at me, and as it finally liquefies into a large puddle of Fusion Matter, it says to me,

 _ **"You won't be able to stop what's coming..."**_

Once it finally becomes a puddle, I stand there for a few seconds, just to make sure it won't reform. The Fusion Matter starts moving toward the cliff, and I step out of the way to let it go there. After that happens, I make my way to the transmitter and make sure it's OK. There's no clear visible damage on the exterior, so I assume it's alright. That's when I hear distant explosions. Wait a minute! The KND don't know an Oil Ogre snuck away with the transmitter! They're attacking a place that doesn't have what they're looking for! I re-activate my NanoCom and notice I've gotten several missed calls from Numbuh Five. I call her, and she picks up almost immediately.

"There you are!" Numbuh Five says. "Where in the world have you been?! I've been trying to contact you several times now! Where are you?!"

"Listen, I've got the transmitter! An Oil Ogre was sneaking out of the Dark Engine with it!"

"...Hold up... You have the transmitter?"

"Yes! An Oil Ogre was sneaking away with it, and I found him after we were separated."

"Are you sure it's the transmitter?"

"Does it look like a cylindrical Dexlabs device, with a small screen, control panel and a ring of orange surrounding it near the top? Does it also has a structural design where it goes thinner as you go downward, and it has four... uh... things sticking out of the bottom in perpendicular directions as a base?"

"Um, yes, actually. But how do you know that isn't a fake?"

"I fought the Oil Ogre, and Fuse was speaking to me through him, saying it had fulfilled its purpose or something. They probably were going to dump it off somewhere while you guys were hammering at the Dark Engine, looking for something they didn't have-"

That's when I hear a distant explosion, which is louder on Numbuh Five's side of the call. The explosion is then followed by cheers.

"The Dark Engine's main power core was just destroyed, Commander," I hear someone say across the transmission. Numbuh Five turns to face this person. "Shall we begin the raid for the transmitter?"

"Not yet," Numbuh Five says. "Give me a moment to confirm this. Mark, activate the device and tell me what it says."

"OK," I say. I guess this is to confirm this Transmitter's legitimacy. I press the power button on the device, and a projection of simply three words shows up: "PLEASE CONFIRM IDENTIFICATION". I relay this information to Numbuh Five, and she says:

"OK, press the button, and then don't say a thing for this next part." Alright then. I press the holo-button and Numbuh Five says:

"Abigail Lincoln, Numbuh 5 of Kids Next Door Sector V, Second-in-Command and Special Operations Commander."

After a second, another beep takes place, before a voice similar to Computress's says, "Access Granted". A bunch of stuff pops up, but I don't pay attention to it. I'm not going to mess anything up like Dee Dee messed up the time machine.

"So you do have the real transmitter... Good work, kid. Alright, we've traced your location. We're on our way."

"OK, good. Thank-"

I hear screeching noises. I look up and see large Fusion Spawns coming from the remains of the chain-link fence. They're much, much bigger than the normal Fusion Spawns. While the normal Fusion Spawns are a little less than knee-high, these ones are almost my height.

"I'm under attack! I gotta move! I'm heading back to Tech Square!" I say. The call then cuts out. I pick up the rather heavy transmitter and start running. I can't defend myself because I need both my hands to carry this thing. I head to the path and start going back the way I came. However, I don't get far because I then see more of those big Fusion Spawns coming from the side I'm trying to get to. I put down the transmitter, reload my Lightning Gun, and quickly rapid-fire the large Fusion Spawns blocking my way to getting out. I also fire at the ones chasing me, so that I'm not attacked from behind. Once those big Spawns in front of me are taken care of, I pick up the transmitter, just in time to see one of them lunging at me. It hits me with such force that it pushes both me and the transmitter off the cliff and toward the Fusion Matter. I close my eyes, ready for whatever will happen when I fall into this Fusion Matter. But then I feel something grab me from below. I open my eyes and I'm flying. Well, I must be carried by something that's flying. I can't exactly see who is carrying me from this position, but I'll thank them infinitely after this for saving me. Is this one of the Powerpuff Girls? I feel us turn around and head another direction, and then we stop. I look around and we're back in Tech Square again.

I look to who flew me back here and I see someone in the iconic Powerpuff outfit - a dress that could be pink, blue or green (depending on the Powerpuff) with a black, wide horizontal stripe in the middle. This one is green. There are a few badges on this person's outfit, one of which is a yellow badge with a blue star. I look up to her face, and see a face I would recognize anywhere. Her green eyes and black hair with that little triangle-shaped part in the middle immediately tell me who she is. It's... Buttercup! So she did survive! Honestly, I'm not that surprised. I've seen and heard of Buttercup surviving far worse, and I never actually believed she was gone, just either in hiding or somewhere else entirely. She definitely didn't lose her powers, though, but I do notice a strange streak of green hair coming down to the right side of her face. I wonder when it was found out that she was alive.

"T-thanks, Buttercup," I say.

"No problem," she says, smiling. She turns around and stops. She looks back to me, then continues with, "Wait, I think I know you." She's right. I was able to secure a position in some of the same classes as her years ago. Well, for me, it would only be as soon as my last school year. After all, after two and a half years, and after the battle with Mojo, she would probably only remember fragments of me, especially since she wasn't around during the incident with the time machine. I understand I'm assuming a lot of stuff, but I can't do much else but assume, as I don't know how she returned. I'll ask her later.

"Does the name 'Mark' come to mind?" I ask. "Because my name is Mark."

She thinks for a second. "Hold on a sec," she says before she starts punching the air around her. This is her way of trying to remember lost things. She does it for a few seconds before she stops. She must have remembered something. "Wait, I do remember you! You were in our class! You and your friends!"

"Yep, that's me!" I say. We fist-bump, and I stumble back a few steps. Does she always have to do that with so much power behind it?

"I knew that I knew you somewhere," she says, smiling. "After I became myself again, I remembered some stuff about someone with your name in a time experiment thingy that got messed up."

"Yeah, that's what happened. And that was two and a half years ago, and I just got here."

Buttercup leans back. "Man... so you don't know anything about what's happening?"

"Well, Numbuh 5 and Numbuh 1337 told me the basics of what's going down. Planet Fusion, in the sky, messing everything up, infecting the world..."

"Heh... must have been super confusing."

"Trust me, it was."

Buttercup's communicator starts ringing, playing some sort of music I've never heard of before. When she answers, Numbuh Two's hologram appears above her communicator. "Yeah, Numbuh Two?"

He says, "Buttercup, we need you to bring that transmitter to the heli-carrier. It'll be safer up there."

"You got it," Buttercup says. In the span of only about 5 seconds, she grabs the transmitter, zooms up into the sky, then comes back down. I look up to where she just went, and notice something new in the sky. It looks like a large aircraft carrier, but with giant repulsor engines that keep it in the sky. It must be thousands of feet up, and it still looks pretty big up there. From what I can see through the clouds, it has blue and white on it, with large letters saying "dexlabs". First hoverboards, then hovercars, and now this? This must have been made for warfare against the Fusions, based on the fact that I can see turret guns on it. I know they're turrets because I can see blasts of red and orange light coming out of them, followed by distant explosions not long after. The explosions sound like they're coming from far behind Dexlabs.

"What are they firing at?" I ask.

"There's a pretty big army of Fusion Monsters coming from where Galaxy Gardens was," Buttercup says. "My sisters are helping the Kids Next Door troops take care of that." She groans. "Waiting here's boring. I should be over there fighting them. Hold on."

She then takes off into the sky, as evident by a large gust of wind knocking me back, and the trail of bright green light behind her. Then I hear my NanoCom beep. I look to the holo-screen. I'm getting a call from Ben. I accept the call and Ben's projection shows up above the NanoCom.

"Nice job, kid," Ben says. "Numbuh Five said that you fought one of the Oil Ogres on your own and managed to defeat it without any help... That's pretty impressive for someone who's only been here a few hours or so..."

"Yeah, I'm in Tech Square now," I say. "Buttercup saved me. Now she's... I don't know where she is-" That's when I see her land by the SCAMPER, smiling. "Oh, OK, she's here. Anyway, the transmitter's secure now."

"Alright, we'll be there soon," Ben says. "Well, I'll be there immediately, but Numbuh Five will be here soon." The call then ends. It's not long before I hear a zooming sound, and then a flash comes from the entrance gates. Yep, that's Ben. Must have turned into XLR8. That alien would be so useful, especially if you're going to be late to school.

I hear another distant explosion, louder than the rest, and crashing sounds. This is all coming from Dexlabs' direction. I look up at Dexlabs, the land of which is raised up and all. Well, it's more likely that the land I'm on probably sank. I take a picture of Dexlabs, and then the tents in Tech Square, and then the SCAMPER. This will be very interesting to show my friends- Oh, right! I need to call my friends! I go to my NanoCom and go to the contacts list. Evan is right at the top of the list. I'm about to click his name, but something stops me. There was a weird movement in my peripheral vision that didn't seem exactly like anything normal. I look to the left and see it come by again. It's a distinct green light in the sky, zipping in and out between the buildings every so often. What the heck is Buttercup doing? Then I hear another zipping sound, directly to my left. I turn and see Buttercup. So she's here now. I look back to the buildings the green line was zipping through before. There it goes again! Wait... this light is a darker shade of green than the light Buttercup makes when she flies. Huh... The other green trail stops zipping behind the buildings and flies behind Dexlabs. That was weird. I should ask them what that was about.

"Uhhh... Ben? Buttercup?"

Buttercup turns around. "Yeah, what's going on?"

"I saw another green trail go behind Dexlabs-"

Suddenly, I hear a massive explosion above me. I'm pushed by a powerful blast of heat and air to the ground. I look up, and see that a large fireball has erupted out of the top of the Dexlabs building. Shards of glass, pieces of metal and splinters of wood blow away from the building, and start falling toward us. I jump up and run for cover, the nearest of which being a large solar panel. I end up doing a baseball dive and slide feet first underneath the sloped panel. Almost immediately after, the pieces of the building's roof start hitting the ground like hail, making clanking and clinking sounds as they do so. I protect my face with my arms as I hear close zipping sounds. I think Buttercup's intercepting the pieces. All the while, I hear a whooshing sound that's quickly getting quieter and quieter.

"What the heck just happened?" I ask loudly. Seriously, what was that? I hear the sound of rockets firing. They're really close, too. Are there missile launchers here somewhere? No, the sounds seem to be coming from the same place. I look to where they're coming from, and I see someone coming closer down. The rockets are coming from his... does this guy seriously have rocket boots? Yep, he does.

 _"What in the world?"_ I think to myself. _"This day is getting crazier and crazier!"_ OK, maybe I shouldn't say that, considering I'm two and a half years in the future where an alien invasion has reduced to the world to something nearly unrecognizable, but... it has the potential to get crazier. The guy lands on the ground, and then I can see him more clearly. He's wearing a large red sweater, grey shorts, brown boots that apparently have rockets with them, and dark sunglasses... OK, apparently he's also completely bald. But this person doesn't seem older than Numbuh 5, and he definitely is younger than Ben. Maybe I'll ask him later, once I figure out who he is and all. Buttercup, Numbuh Two and Ben hurry over to this other person, and start talking.

"Are you alright, Numbuh One?" Ben says.

"I'm fine," Numbuh One says. He then immediately goes to his communicator and starts calling somebody. "Dexter! Dexter! Are you there?" No response. Just a loud whooshing noise from the other side. Wait, this guy was with Dexter? So Dexter **is** alive. "DEXTER! PLEASE RESPOND!" There's a zapping noise from the other side of the call before it cuts off.

"Come on..." Numbuh One says, before trying to call Dexter again. The call doesn't even start this time. I run over to them.

"Numbuh One, what happened?" Numbuh Two says.

"I was assisting Dexter in defending the top of Dexlabs from any aerial assault the Fusions might make. But then something blasted through the house and sent me flying off the building. And I can't reach Dexter now. I could before, but that loud noise on the other side prevented me from hearing anything he could've said."

"Did you get any good glimpse as to what exactly that thing was?"

"No. One second I was with Dexter blasting away another wave of Spawns, the next second I was falling. The only thing I saw was a green trail of light in the first few seconds of my fall that went to the south for about a second."

"Well, Buttercup's here, so I-"

"Wait!" I say loudly, diverting everyone's attention. Numbuh One looks at me with a rather confused look. He doesn't know what I mean yet. But I know what's going on.

"What are you doing?" Numbuh One asks. "And why aren't you in your Kids Next Door defense armor?"

"Uh... you see, I'm not actually one of you Kids Next Door guys."

"Well, then why are you here?"

"It's a pretty long story."

"He went in Dexter's time machine, it went horribly wrong and he ended up here hours ago," Ben says.

"Well, never mind that!" I say. "I think I know what's going on and what knocked you guys off. Now, Powerpuffs produce the trails of light behind them, and you said there was a trail of green light. I saw that same trail zipping between buildings, and then it zoomed toward Dexlabs. Seconds later, the explosion happened and you fell down here. Now, Ben, you said Fusions could be made from anybody?"

"Yeah-" Ben is the middle of saying until he suddenly stops. "Wait, Mark, are you saying-"

"Yes, I think that was a Fusion of one of the Powerpuff Girls that attacked you! And you heard the whooshing sound when you tried to call Dexter; that must have been a Fusion Powerpuff taking Dexter somewhere! The Powerpuffs fly quickly, after all, so maybe it's a Fusion Powerpuff!"

"YES!" Buttercup yells. I turn to her and she's grinning. "Finally, something that's going to be worth fighting!"

Numbuh One tries to call Dexter yet again, but just like before, the attempt fails.

"It would explain a lot of things," Numbuh Two says. "That actually does make the most sense. There have been sightings of a possible Fusion Powerpuff for the past few days. I'm inclined to believe Mark in this case. Oh, hey! That rhymed!"

"Anyway, if it is truly a Fusion Powerpuff and she has taken Dexter, we need to get him back ASAP," Ben said. "He's one of our most important assets to slowing down the invasion, and if you're the kid from the time machine, he might be able to bring you back and allow you to warn everyone of the upcoming invasion. We need to get him back. But first, we need to send out a transmission to all the operatives who aren't fighting."

"I'll have that covered," Numbuh Two says. He, Ben and Numbuh One all walk over to the SCAMPER. And that leaves me... doing nothing, apparently. I sit down at the base of the fountain and look up into the sky again. I look around Tech Square, and see more people being brought into tents in the area. I guess the glass hit some people. I look up again. Planet Fusion's up there still, but it's a bit further to the west in the sky. This is crazy. If I was told, say, a week or so ago that this would happen to me, I wouldn't believe a word of it. I would've said to whoever told me that that they were crazy. Well, the Guardian would be an exception. But that brings up a big question: I know the Guardian is real, and that he's trying to help me out, so why didn't he tell me about Project Future? And come to think of it, why is he protecting me of all people? I mean, I'm grateful for it, but I'm just curious.

A strange bit of music comes from my NanoCom, similar to the noise Buttercup's NanoCom made when Numbuh Two called her. I look down and see these bolded words:

 **[INCOMING BROADCAST FROM NUMBUH TWO - DIRECTED TO ALL KIDS NEXT DOOR OPERATIVES IN TOWNSVILLE]**

Then I hear Numbuh Two's voice:

 **"Attention, all Kids Next Door operatives! Dexter has disappeared! He's been reportedly taken by a Fusion Powerpuff Girl! The information we currently have is that such Fusion Powerpuff went southward from the last known sighting, which was reported by Numbuh One. The exact location where this Fusion is hiding out we do not know. If you do not have any current duties as an operative, report to Tech Square immediately and prepare for battle!"**

Once the broadcast stops, I ponder what to do. On one hand, Dexter is really important, but on the other hand, the Fusion Powerpuff will be in our way, and I'm certain I wouldn't last a second against even a normal Powerpuff, so I definitely won't survive if I charge in against the Fusion. Although I'm not exactly going to do that. I mean, it was hard for me to defeat just an Oil Ogre. If I'm going and I see the Fusion Powerpuff, I'll probably just run the other direction as Ben and the Powerpuffs take care of it. OK, so I am going. Dexter needs everybody's help. He got me into this situation, and I'm gonna get him out of his. That's when I see Ben emerge from the SCAMPER with Numbuhs One and Two. I run over to them.

"So, what's going to happen?" I ask.

"Well, we're currently mobilizing a fleet of SCAMPERs to search Eastern Townsville and the surrounding areas," Numbuh Two says. "We'll need all the operatives we can get-"

"Which is why I want to come along!" I say. Ben looks at me, slightly concerned. Does he think I'm just going to charge in there or something?

"Are you sure you can do this?" he asks.

"Well, like I said before, it's not like I'm not going to run straight in and fight a Fusion Powerpuff! I know I won't survive a second if I do that! I just want to help get Dexter back because he needs our help! I won't interfere with you guys! I probably won't even fight. I just want to help somehow."

Ben chuckles, before saying, "There's no stopping you, is there? Alright, you can help out, but remember: if you see the Fusion Powerpuff, do not engage it! Instead, notify us of its location and wait."

"Cool," Numbuh Two says. "Another helper."

"So, then... what should I do?"

"Hmmm..." Numbuh Two starts thinking. "You could be in a COOLBUS or SCAMPER that will provide support cover in case things get rough. I'll assign you to a SCAMPER in the squad searching... um... the Infected Zone. That way, you can get some idea of what Infected Zones are like."

"What about the rest?"

"Buttercup will be searching the Steam Alley area, and Ben and I will be searching Mandark Industries and everything east of there. Numbuh Five and Numbuh One will be coming along in the squad you're in." Numbuh Two looks up, behind me. "Oh, here they come!" I turn around and see at least ten or so SCAMPERs coming from behind the Dexlabs building, which now has a visibly large hole in it. There are also five other vehicles that look like school buses, except they have rockets, a bulldozer shovel on the front and what seem to be mechanical legs. This is probably the most amount of large vehicles (other than hovercars) I've seen in the air at once. Some of them head to the left, others to the right. At the same time, I hear another SCAMPER land to the left of me. I momentarily look at it and see Numbuh Five coming out of it. The noise from the SCAMPERs' jets becomes louder as they approach. They get closer and closer, louder and louder. One of the SCAMPERs and one of the modified buses come down and land on the northern side of Tech Square, to my right.

"Alright, kid, time to gear up!" Numbuh Two says. Operatives start walking out of the bus vehicle and SCAMPER. Actually, the "SCHOOL BUS" on the front of most school buses has the first "S" and "H" crossed out, making it "COOL BUS". OK, now it makes sense. The operatives head over to a large group of boxes I didn't see before and start getting equipment out of there. However, I notice one operative in the crowd. And when I see his familiar brown eyes, I immediately know who it is.

"Evan!" I say. Immediately, he stops and grabs another one of the operatives. He and the operative turn toward me. The other one is Aidan! They look so much older now. But they're alive.


	5. Rescue Mission

**A/N:** _He has allowed me to warn you: this chapter is going to get pretty insane. Just wanted to let you know._

* * *

 _ **Mark - January 14, 2019 - 1:06 PM**_

Evan and Aidan are both staring at me with eyes that are wider than Aidan's were when I was selected for Project Future. Aidan closes his eyes and starts rubbing them as if he thinks he's seeing things. After opening his eyes and seeing me again, he and Evan look at each other, then back to me. They're in disbelief. Well, to be fair, I haven't been here in years for them, so that makes sense. A few seconds later, their expressions change. They smile and break ranks, running toward me.

"MARK!" I hear them both say as they run for me. I brace for impact, but once they reach me, they suddenly stop. "You're here!"

"Yeah..." I say. "I'm... here..."

"Man, we didn't even realize it had been January 14th yet," Evan says, still in disbelief. "Being out there in combat has felt so long we thought it was way later!"

"Wait, you knew when I'd be showing up?" I ask.

"I guess you could say that, but it's kind of a long story."

Evan and Aidan look at each other and start whispering to each other. I think Evan says, _"What do we say to him?"_ Aidan whispers, _"I don't know!"_ Then Evan whispers, _"Well, we have to say something or he'll-"_

"By the way, where are the others?" I ask. They stop whispering and turn back to me.

"Oh, yeah... Amanda and Lucas are on the helicarrier right now," Evan says back.

"OK, what about Chris and John?" They don't respond. Why aren't they saying anything?

"Oh..." Evan says. They break eye contact. "They are... Yeah..."

Oh.. I get it. Chris and John are dead. Two of my close group of friends are gone... Well... I guess I shouldn't have expected all six of them to be alive, especially in this future. I should be glad more than half of my friends are alive. I look back to Evan and Aidan. Once again, they look so much older, at least in their late teens. To me, I last saw them only a few hours ago, but to them, it's been several years. No wonder they're surprised to see me. Wait... is Andrew OK? Please tell me he is!

"What about Andrew?" I ask. "Is he alive?"

Their expressions change again. "Oh, he's alive and perfectly OK," Aidan says.

I lean back and take a huge sigh of relief. I'll be able to see Andrew again. Alive. And older, too. He was nearly 8 when I left, so he should be 10 and 1/2 years or something by now.

"You know, we completely forgot about you for a bit..." Evan says. "Sorry about that."

"I don't blame you," I say. After all, it's been two and a half years. If Evan had gone into the time machine instead of me, I'd certainly be too caught up in this invasion to even focus on him until now. There's probably an alternate universe where that's the case.

"Oh, OK... So, um... do you need to know what all this is?" Aidan asks me. Oh, right. He doesn't know that I know.

"No, Ben and Numbuh Five told me," I say before I say a similar version of what I said to Buttercup before. "Planet Fusion is in the sky, Terrafusers and Fusion Spawns are coming down and infecting everything..."

"Alright, cool," Evan says.

"So... what have I missed?" After all, it's been 2.5 years. I have to catch up at some point. It'll probably take days.

"Oh... Well, after the incident with the time machine, Andrew went-"

"Alright, get ready to board!" Numbuh Two's voice echoes through a megaphone. I turn to my left and see all the KND agents walking toward the SCAMPERs and COOLBUS with their new gear.

"Well, let's go," I say. I pick up my Lightning Gun and we walk to the COOLBUS.

"Alright, we just need to get our stuff now," Aidan says. He and Evan run to the boxes. While they're running, Evan yells out, "SAVE US SEATS!" I walk with the other agents to the vehicles and get inside the COOLBUS. I find the closest available seats, which are somewhere in the middle of the bus. These buses have rows of two seats on each side. One side has two empty seats and one in front of it. I sit in the seat near the window and tell everyone who gets near these seats that they're being saved. Some respond with frustration, others not. All the while, the noise within the bus accumulates, just like when a bus fills up with kids. A minute or so later, I see Evan and Aidan get on.

"Nice! Thanks, Mark!" Evan says. They quickly get to the seats I saved. Evan sits in the one next to me and Aidan sits in the one in front. We continue to chat.

"So, what about Andrew? What happened?" I ask.

Evan and Aidan look at each other again, then me. This is making me really curious. Evan starts the conversation off: "Listen, Mark, a LOT more things went down in your absence than you currently know."

"That's kinda obvious," I say. That's when I feel the engine start. I look outside the window as the bus slowly starts to rise off the ground.

"That's not what I mean," Evan says. "First off, we know the Guardian is indeed real."

OK, now I'm really curious. The Guardian revealed himself to my friends? I didn't think that he would do something like that, but I'm not exactly sure what the Guardian is doing anyway, so I'm not one to ask.

"What happened involving him?"

"Well, after that incident with the time machine, he visited Andrew!"

I sit there, silent for a few seconds. "Why?" I ask.

"He apparently wanted me to tell Andrew something, and that something was to join the Kids Next Door."

"Wait, wait, hold on!" I say. "You guys were a part of this and didn't invite me-"

"No, that's not the case," Aidan says. He leans over the back of his seat to look at us. "You see, you actually used to be a part of it. All of us did, but we were all decommissioned at some point except Evan."

"Are you sure we used to be in this? Because I never remember being in a SCAMPER or COOLBUS or anything else the Kids Next Door does-"

"That's not how it works," Aidan interrupts me. "When they decommission people, they erase your memories of anything to do with the KND. Do you think they'd just let people out of something like this without-"

 **"We're coming up on the Infected Zone!"** I hear a loud voice say from the front of the bus. I look outside again. The COOLBUS is at least 100 feet off the ground and is moving toward a large group of buildings surrounded on all sides by force fields, about 50 feet away. One of those buildings is... my apartment building. A river of Fusion Matter that's about 15 to 20 feet wide is going through the area, separating the main part of the zone from a smaller part in the corner. That part contains a couple buildings, but significantly less than the rest of the area. The buildings inside the force fields seem to be a lot more intact than the buildings outside, but still broken down nonetheless. There are mysterious holes in the building too, possibly from Terrafusers crashing into it. This has to be the "Infected Zone" the pilot is talking about.

"Hey, um, Evan? What's an Infected Zone?" I ask.

"Oh, did Ben and Numbuh Five not tell you about that? Well, Infected Zones are the most infected areas on the planet. Fuse's Terrafusers can cause some crazy stuff to happen, and by crazy, I mean physics-defying crazy. You have to see it for yourself."

I turn back to the window just in time to see us stopping in front of the force fields keeping us away from the Infected Zone. The force fields are emanating and pulsing from small, dark blue spheres that are floating a good distance above the ground. The force fields extend very far upward, showing me they have a sort of hexagonal pattern. These force fields go very high up, enough that it's very certain nobody could get out of there without aerial support. After a few seconds, the part of the force field in front of us disappears, allowing us passage inside. The hexagonal pattern reforms itself when we're fully inside the zone, though. I look at the nearest buildings inside the zone and notice that parts of the building are actually floating above the ground. One example is the fact that one of the apartments in the DexHotel is completely disconnected from the rest of the building and is just floating in mid-air, about 10 feet away from it. The apartment is floating at the level of the COOLBUS, which stops moving forward, allowing me to take a closer look. Then I notice its position. It's on the 7th floor and is a corner apartment facing Dexlabs and Galaxy Gardens. It's in that moment that I realize: I know that apartment. It's my family's apartment!

I turn back to Evan and Aidan, and they're looking around the bus. Everyone is. They look confused as to why we've stopped.

 **"OK, everyone! We're going to float here for a short while in order to scan for signs of Dexter or Fusion activity! Scanners activating… now!"**

Oh, OK. That's what it is. I turn to Aidan and Evan. "Do you think that we'll actually find Dexter here?" I ask.

"It's worth a shot," Aidan says. We wait for a minute or so while the COOLBUS slowly turns right. It must still be scanning the area. It turns at least a quarter of the way around before I hear something that makes me feel really nervous. The zipping sounds. I immediately look outside the window on my left on look everywhere I can see. Nothing. The COOLBUS starts turning the opposite direction, to the left. More zipping sounds. I look outside again. Still nothing. I make my grasp on my Lightning Gun tighter. I'm scared now. I really hope that's a normal Powerpuff and not a Fusion one. I listen to the sounds inside the COOLBUS again. It's quiet now, much quieter than before. They must be hearing it too. I look to Evan and Aidan, who also have a tighter grip on their weapons now. They look at me.

"You hear that too, right?" I ask. They both nod.

 **"Stand by, everyone,"** the pilot says. The COOLBUS starts flying forward. I feel relieved that we'll be getting away from this part of the Infected Zone. I look outside again and see more destroyed buildings that go on for several blocks before reaching the force fields. There are whole floors or tops of buildings floating in the air, and some are even sideways or upside-down. This is crazy. I'm in the process of seeing how one apartment is spinning around the building it came from when I hear the zipping sound again. It's really close this time, so close the glass on my right shatters and flies toward us.

Instantly, all of us dive down and hit the floor. It's really cramped down here. I hear the glass hit the bus's floor, and screams, groans, and other sounds. I don't think any of the glass hit me. Even if some has, there's so much adrenaline that's pumping through my bloodstream right now I probably won't even notice it until a few minutes later.

 **"Get back in your seats, everyone! We're getting outta here!"** Without hesitation, I jump up and get in my seat again. I check my arms, legs, body, face. Nothing hit me. I still hear groaning, some really close. I look around and see a huge hole in the wall on my right. Evan's crouching low in his seat, protecting his face and head with his arms. The COOLBUS starts maneuvering downward and toward the shields.

 **"Numbuh Two! Do you copy? The Fusion Powerpuff is- AAAAAAAAAH!"** Red-hot beams blast through the bus's walls and floor from below it, hitting everything in sight. I curl up into a ball in my seat, hoping none of the beams hit me. Thankfully, they don't. I get back into a sitting position as I pray that the pilot- Wait. I think the lasers hit the pilot! That's why he screamed! Just as I realize what's happening, an explosion above us knocks me back into the broken window. I look up. There's a hole in the ceiling that's going through the large rocket engine above the bus. I see flames and smoke come through, and I can feel us starting to plummet to the ground.

 **"Hang on, everyone!"** I hear the pilot scream. He didn't die! But he must have been hurt. I'm not going to jump up and see what happened; I just want to survive. I look outside. We're rapidly falling toward the Fusion Matter river! Everyone inside is screaming and flying through the bus, holding on for dear life. I brace for impact and Fusion Matter rushing into the vehicle. But thankfully, the COOLBUS hits the ground just a few feet ahead of the river, making loud crashing and clanging sounds as it slides across. I hold onto my seat with my eyes closed tightly. There's a blue flash that is bright even behind my closed eyes. I open them and it's gone. What I see instead are two messed-up bus seats. Aidan isn't in one of those seats, even though he just was. I immediately look to the right of me. Evan's still conscious, but as disoriented as I am. He looks at me with a very frantic look.

"Aidan," we both say at once, and we start looking around the COOLBUS for Aidan. There are numerous KND operatives lying down in their seats or on the floor, either unconscious or dead. Don't know which. After a few seconds of looking around from our seats, we see him on the floor, looking up at the ceiling and breathing heavily. A few other operatives also survived, and are exiting the bus as quickly as possible, either on their own or dragging teammates out. Evan and I get out of our seats, get our weapons, get Aidan and start getting out. Aidan continually groans and makes the occasional "Ow!" as we make our way through the bus. On the way out, I look to the pilot, and what I see makes me back up against the wall in shock with the urge to vomit. This is absolutely disgusting. This seems like something you'd see in a rated-A movie or something, except at least in that, you're not actually experiencing it. Thankfully, a communicator starts beeping, taking my mind off the body.

"Numbuh 6497, are you there? Over!" Numbuh Two's voice comes out of a walkie-talkie lying on the floor, near the pilot. The voice is frequently cut off by static. I turn to Evan. He's turned around after he hears me stopping. I look to the walkie-talkie. Numbuh Two is still asking, "Numbuh 6497! Do you copy? Over!" I turn back to Evan.

"I'll get Aidan to safety! You notify Numbuh Two!" Evan says. He leaves the bus, helping Aidan along to wherever the rest of the survivors are going. I turn back to the dead pilot, pick up the walkie-talkie near him and get out of the bus. As I hurry along, I press the button to start talking.

"Numbuh Two! Can you hear me?" I say, before allowing him to communicate again.

"Mark! ...What happened? And you're supposed to say 'Over' after you're done speaking. Over." Numbuh Two says.

"The... The COOLBUS crashed. T-the Fusion Powerpuff attacked it! The survivors are getting out and setting up camp! Over."

"Alright... we're on our way! You get to safety! We'll meet up with you later. Over and out."

The communication ends there. I keep the walkie-talkie with me as I head toward Evan, who's still carrying Aidan.

The 10 or so surviving operatives are taking refuge by a building next to the force fields. I can see flashlights through the windows as operatives scan the inside for any Fusion Monsters. Apparently, there were some because I hear blasting noises and screeches not long after. Once we get to the building, we sit Aidan down on one of the benches on the sidewalk outside. He's still breathing heavily. After a few seconds, he looks at me.

"I'm OK... I'm not badly hurt," he says. I notice he's clutching his right side. The part of the armor around his hands is stained red. He's gritting his teeth too. Evan sees this, too. There are several other parts of his armor that are an unusual crimson color as well, with glass there as well.

"Hold up, you need a medic!" I say. We look around. No, all the medics are occupied with others. Some arguably have even worse injuries than Aidan's. Well, we don't know how bad whatever happened to Aidan is. However, one of the medics starts looking around, as if he's looking for someone to help now. Evan raises his hand, which the medic sees. He moves swiftly toward us, and Evan points to Aidan. The medic has bright blue eyes and light brown hair under his helmet, which has the number "1014" painted on it. As he passes us by, he looks at me, and in my peripheral vision, I notice his eyes go weird. They change color or something. I quickly turn toward the medic, but he's already helping Aidan, getting the glass out of him and patching his wounds. His eyes are blue again. Evan and I sit down on another nearby bench, and after a few more minutes, the medic comes to us.

"So, how's Aidan?" Evan asks.

"He's going to be fine," the medic says. "I got the glass out. No serious injuries. We'll evacuate him when the nearest SCAMPER team gets here."

"Alright, cool," Evan says. The medic goes over to someone else, and his EYES GO WEIRD AGAIN! Seriously, what is up with that? Well, it's honestly not the weirdest thing that's happening. I mean, seeing someone's eyes become a different color would be strange if I wasn't in an apocalypse where an alien invasion is going down! I sigh and observe the nearby buildings. There's a few of them on our side of the Fusion river, which is only a block or so away. I see the crashed COOLBUS, which is a lot closer to the river than I thought it was. And I don't know why, but for some reason, I feel compelled to look at one of the buildings. More specifically, the roof of said building. My eyes are drawn to a building about a block away, just before the Fusion Matter river. It looks like an office building of sorts. I look to the roof, and there's something bright green up there. I can't see it very clearly, but I am certain that it's danger. The moment I see it, I subtly nudge Evan on the shoulder, still looking at the green thing on the other building's roof. He sees it too, because when I turn to Evan, he's looking directly at it. Evan looks at me and says, "We need to warn them!"

Evan and I get up, turn around, and when we're about to alert everyone about the thing on the roof, I hear that zipping sound again. It lands very, very close behind me, and the ground shakes violently. I try to keep my balance as I turn around, and I see it hovering above the crater it just created. It has fully dark clothing with badges that are also completely black, save a small white star on one of them. It also has dark hair, bright green skin and red eyes. The hair has a triangular flip in the center, and by the time I see that, I know for certain that this is a Fusion Buttercup. Why of all the Fusion Powerpuffs does the one we're about to fight have to be a Fusion of the most violent Powerpuff Girl?

When I see it, it hovers there for a second or two, before getting a devilish grin on its face. It zips toward the most amount of people, which is inside the building behind me. It doesn't spare me, as it knocks me backward onto the ground with a swift hit. Then all I hear is explosions and glass shattering. I enter "Adrenaline Mode" again as I jump up, not even caring if I was hit by anything. I look up and see green lines zipping through the building. Then a crunching noise, then screams. Aidan's crawling away, thankfully no glass in him this time. I run toward him as laser blasts take place on my left, pick him up, and carry him on my back as I run away from the building. I do this almost without thinking.

"Wait, Mark!" I hear Evan say. I turn around and I see Evan booking it away from the building. I run until we reach the Fusion river, which due to my adrenaline, doesn't take that long at all, even with me carrying Aidan on my back. We hide behind the nearest building that's by the Fusion river.

I hear the zipping sound again. It zooms over us. I look up and see Fusion Buttercup high in the air, flying past us. It continues onward until it flies through the wall of the building across from us. I can't see it anymore after that.

"What do we do now?" I ask quietly. It's getting a bit difficult now holding Aidan on my back, though, especially now that we're out of danger and I don't have enough adrenaline right now to make it easy.

"I'll contact Numbuh Two!" Evan says. "Hold on, hand me Aidan first! I see you're having some trouble!"

"I'm... OK..." Aidan says. "Just let me sit down..."

Evan takes Aidan off my back and sits him down against the building's wall. Evan activates his NanoCom, goes to the contact list and calls Numbuh Two.

"Numbuh Two, do you copy?" Evan says.

"Yes, 781. What's going on?" Numbuh Two asks. 781? Is that Evan's operative number?

"It's a Fusion Buttercup!" Evan says. "I repeat: It's a Fusion Buttercup! It attacked our makeshift base. At least three of us managed to flee. We don't know if anyone else survived."

"I'm one of them," I say. Just want to let him know in case he asks.

"OK, good," Numbuh Two says. "What's your location?"

"We're right by the Fusion river. There's a bridge of platforms not far from here. We'll cross there and meet up with your SCAMPERs." Wait, what?

"Wait, you're not serious?" I ask. Does he really think I'm gonna do that? Evan doesn't respond to that and continues talking with Numbuh Two.

So what's the plan?" Evan says.

We hear a zipping sound above us. I look up and see Buttercup hovering a few hundred feet above the river. She speaks out at an inhuman volume, **"Hey, phony! I know that you're in here! Come out and fight me already!"** Nothing happens for the next few seconds. **"Oh, you're just going to hide in your lair like a little b-"**

There's a faraway crashing noise, and Buttercup is blasted away by something. The Fusion Buttercup is there now. I'm certain that it's angry. Buttercup would be angry if that was said to her. Buttercup zooms into her Fusion counterpart, and they start their fight by slamming through a building on the other side of the river.

"That's the plan," Numbuh Two says. "While Fusion Buttercup's distracted, we'll go in and find Dexter. Our SCAMPERs will intercept your path after you cross the river using the platforms. I know that for Mark, that first cross will be river-ting!" Did Numbuh Two just make a pun? It's not even a funny one. The pun results in Evan shaking his head, and awkward silence for a few seconds, other than distant noises from Buttercup and Fusion Buttercup fighting.

"Alright, we got it," Aidan says. "So we'll meet you guys on the other side?"

"Correct. See ya there," Numbuh Two says, before ending the call. I still don't know what to say about the pun, though.

"Is he always like this?" I ask.

"You get used to it," Evan says. "You'll remember a lot more of his bad puns soon. But for now, let's get across the platforms."

I don't know about this. Regardless, I head toward Aidan to get him up so we can get to the other side. However, Aidan starts getting up on his own, stumbling because of his recent wounds. They must not have been too bad because he seems to be walking OK. He still leans against the wall while doing so. At this point, I look to where we're supposed to be going. Around 20 feet away from us is a bridge of floating wooden platforms going over the river. These platforms, which are wide enough to stand on and move around a bit, are remaining perfectly still in mid-air. I don't even want to ask how this works because I'll probably get a huge physics lecture on the properties of Fusion Matter. The first of the floating platforms is not that far from the ground. I still am not sure if I should jump on these.

"Yeah, I'm going to trust these things with my life," I say sarcastically. What if it drops into the Fusion Matter the moment I jump on it? This doesn't seem safe at all. But then again, it's not really safe anywhere in this place. It's called an "infected zone" for a reason.

"Watch, I bet you it isn't going to fall," Evan says.

"How much you willing to bet?" I ask jokingly. "How many Taros?"

"Well… we'll figure that out later." He jumps off the ground and lands on the platform. The platform doesn't even budge. Huh… OK. I guess I owe Evan something now. It's fine. I don't even know if it will be Taros. Is currency even still a thing at this point in time? They probably trade with normal commodities instead.

"Come on," Evan says. I jump next onto the platform, and it similarly doesn't fall. I guess this platform is safe, at the least. What about Aidan, though? Aidan is now at the edge of the ground and quickly gets on the platform. He stumbles a tiny bit upon landing. "Ow," he says again. There's not much room on this platform now, though. Evan jumps onto the next platform, and from there, we begin a cycle of Evan going first, me next, then we catch Aidan. This happens about 7 more times before we make it to the other side. OK, looks like we're good for now. Aidan seems to be a lot better as well. Whatever the KND medics are using to heal wounds must work really fast. That was only 5 or 6 minutes after they patched him up and now he's walking somewhat OK. We move inward about halfway down a block before he sits back down against the wall of a building.

"Alright, so do we wait now?" I say.

"Pretty much," Evan says. He looks down the street we're on. "OK, we're clear, but just to be safe…" He then puts down his backpack, opens it and brings something out. It looks like some sort of cross between a rifle and a bazooka launcher. The weirdest part, though, is that stuffed into the barrel is a small teddy bear. Does this gun really fire teddy bears?

"What in the world?" I ask.

"It's a lot more dangerous than it looks, trust me," Evan says. "Especially since this upgraded one can fire all kinds of them."

Suddenly, a strange series of beeps come from my NanoCom. They're actually coming from all of our NanoComs. The beeps come very quickly, and after 15 to 20 seconds, the beeps stop. What the heck was that?

"It's Morse Code," Evan says, almost as if he knew what I was thinking. He then presses a few things on his NanoCom, and after a few seconds, he says, "It says, 'n5. SCMPR down. base near hotel.' That's Numbuh Five." At this point, I hear a faint whirring noise gets closer and closer, blocking out the explosion sounds of Buttercup and Fusion Buttercup fighting. "Oh, here they are!"

I look up and see five or six SCAMPERs coming over the river. Evan starts waving his arms to attract one of them, and his efforts prove successful. One SCAMPER leaves the squad and glides down to us. It lands on the ground and its doors open. Out of the SCAMPER comes Ben.

"Hey, Mark," Ben says. "I see you got a look at Infected Zones."

"Yeah, it was a pretty close one," I say as I run to them. "So have you located Dexter?"

"Somewhat," Ben says. "We've narrowed Dexter's location down to this quadrant of the area. We'll scan each building, starting with the ones near us. We're gonna get you out of here, though. You've had enough for today."

"Yeah, I gotta say that's true." I mean, I've had several near-death situations in the past few hours! First with the Cyberusses and Tech Wing, then the Oil Ogre, and now the SCAMPER crash and Fusion Buttercup! I just want to get out of here and reunite with my other friends who survived. And then Andrew… I can't wait to see him after so long. Well, from his perspective. "Alright, let's go."

Evan and I get Aidan up. We start walking toward the SCAMPER when a crashing noise happens above us. I look up just in time to see Fusion Buttercup slam Buttercup through the building on my left into the one on my right. Buttercup zooms out again, but Fusion Buttercup punches her down right through the SCAMPER I was about to get on. The shockwave knocks me down, but I get up super fast. Evan, Aidan and I run for cover behind a broken hovercar on the ground. Fusion Buttercup flies downward and an explosion completely obliterates the SCAMPER. Glass and shrapnel fly in every direction, but the hovercar protects us. Then a green flash reflected in the glass, and whooshing and stomping noises.

I slowly peek over the hood of the car to see Fusion Buttercup fighting against Buttercup and something else. That's definitely Ben, and it looks like the alien he's turned into this time is currently surrounded by a dark greenish-grey, bulky suit of armor. OK, it looks like Ben transformed into NRG. It's blasting red beams of energy from its hands while Buttercup strikes with her laser vision. Fusion Buttercup flies away, but Buttercup goes into hot pursuit. They must loop back around, because Fusion Buttercup flies through the same hole in the building she made earlier and kicks Buttercup through the same building, making another hole. I can barely keep track of what's going on. Now I look back to Ben, who's attempting to blast more beams of energy when he can at Fusion Buttercup, but they're moving so fast he can't do much.

Now, Fusion Spawns, Oil Ogres and other types of monsters start coming toward us from the street. Ben turns to these monsters and incinerates them with his energy blasts. I don't do anything, though. I just want to get out of here. Evan, however, takes out his teddy bear weapon, and fires. The dark red teddy bear flies through the air before it hits an Oil Ogre, where it explodes. It turns the Oil Ogre into a small crater.

"Mark!" Ben says loudly. "You get out of here! I can hold these guys off!"

"Got it!" Evan says. He searches for a door to go in. However, that's taken care when an Oil Ogre tries to fire at Evan, but Evan dodges and the ball of Fusion Matter shatters a window. We run through the broken window into a clothing store of some sort. We don't pay much attention to what exactly is inside, as we're a lot more focused on escaping the monsters Ben is holding off. We run through hallways, other stores, and storage rooms. Thankfully, Evan has a flashlight with him, so we're OK there. After blasting down a few walls (thanks to some of Evan's "explosive teddy bears"), we make our way into another store, this time an electronics store. We pass by the shelves and sneak to the vine-covered windows. Through them, we can see several Fusions moving to the left.

"Whoa, whoa!" I hear someone say on our left. I turn in that direction and see several KND operatives, including Numbuh One and Numbuh Five. One operative is drawing her gun back. It's also a teddy bear launcher, or whatever the name of it is.

"Oh, hi," I say. "Well, we found you. You sent the Morse Code?"

"Yeah," Numbuh Five says. "Couldn't send any other message. It's too risky with all the monsters outside."

"Wait, they're all moving left," Aidan says. "They're retreating. Ben should be to the right of us. Where are they going?"

"Well, the biggest group of buildings in this Infected Zone is the hotel. Maybe their base is there."

"Maybe Dexter's there," I say. "Maybe Dexter's in that building. It's at least worth a shot."

"Well, if we're going to raid the place, we shouldn't do it until we have more reinforcements!" Numbuh One says.

"Of course, we're not going to do it now." We wait for a few minutes inside the shop until we hear whirring noises. Yeah, those are the SCAMPERs. Numbuh One hears them too.

"Alright, let's go," Numbuh One says. The operatives get up and load their weapons. I look through the window again and there are not that many monsters outside. Just a few Spawns. The operatives open the door and start blasting them down. I look at my Lightning Gun again, and I notice there's a power supply bar which I didn't see before. It looks a bit like the battery icon on Dexphones. It's getting thin, with approximately 15% of its energy left. I have been using it a lot. I'll leave most of the fighting to the rest. I walk out the door too with Evan, and Ben shows up too, still in NRG form.

"They're heading to the hotel," Ben says. "They might have Dexter in there."

"That's what we were thinking," I say. "So let's get him out of there."

Loud crashing noises take place behind us. I turn around and see, about two blocks away, Fusion Buttercup and Buttercup have blasted through another building, still fighting. One of them starts blasting lasers from her eyes and slices up everything in front of her. It starts flying toward us, blasting lasers at us. Yeah, the one firing lasers is Fusion Buttercup. Once the lasers come our way, we run.

Getting to the shields alive is my main priority right now. The lasers get close but move all over the place. I think Buttercup's trying to pull Fusion Buttercup back, and it's not working so well. The lasers get really close at some points. I hear screams nearby. I don't even look, I just run. We get to the shields and turn right. The front entrance should be nearby. After all, I lived in this place! I know the layout, so I'll know where to go. The laser noises recede. Fusion Buttercup is fighting Buttercup again.

We run through the broken front doors into the hotel's lobby. The hotel is set up in a very interesting way. In the lobby, there's the front desk on the right and waiting chairs on the left. Further past that is a large, tall room that extends all the way up to the top of the building, where the roof is glass, allowing natural sunlight to come in during the right times. The atrium would have a fountain in the center and plants in every corner that didn't have a relaxing couch. But I can see the plants have grown to insane lengths, with vines everywhere. The outer sides of the large atrium are pathways with balconies and stairways to upper and lower levels. They lead to hallways that go to hotel rooms. There's another larger atrium after going down the hallways for a bit. Parts of the building are dedicated specifically for apartments. The layout of the building is really impressive.

Once we enter the lobby, we slow down and start sneaking our way to the atrium. I do the same, because if this is where Dexter is being held, there's gotta be a ton of defense. But yet I don't see any monsters anywhere. We're walking into a trap.

"Evan!" I say quietly enough so that he can hear me, but not anything else that might be waiting to get us can. He and Aidan turn towards me just as my suspicions are confirmed; I hear a robotic screech, and one of the Mega-Cyberusses drops down into the atrium. Then a normal Cyberus comes down, and another, and another until I see at least 15 of them. Then I see a ton of Fusion Spawns coming in from behind those ones. They're all snarling at us. We gotta go now!

The Mega Cyberus screeches out and the normal Cyberusses lunge at us. Evan, Aidan and I all run toward the nearest door, and don't even stop there. We run through hallways and more hallways and go up several floors before we finally think we're safe. We stop there for a moment to catch our breath.

"So... where the heck... do we go now?" Aidan says, panting from the running. "Ow…"

"Um… let's start by checking everywhere," I say before I go to the nearest door. It has the number "701" on it. Wow, I didn't know we ran up that many floors. I blast the lock and kick the door open. I scan the room. It's an apartment that's shaped a lot like ours. It's also an outer apartment. I scan every room, closet and hidden area that could be here. Nothing. I leave the room and when I'm about to enter the next available room, "704", I smell something. The smell of fresh paint. This was the same smell that was in the alleyway where the Guardian left that message. Evan and Aidan notice the smell, too, because I hear Evan say, "Guys! Why does it smell like there's paint everywhere?"

I try to come up with a reason as to why the smell of paint is here all of a sudden. Well, maybe it's a signal of the Guardian being near. If the Guardian is close, then this has to be important… Dexter must be here somewhere.

"Guys… I think the Guardian is telling us Dexter's in this area!" I say. "OK, uh... Check everywhere!"

And we go back to checking all the rooms. As we continue down the hallway and checking rooms, I notice something. The smell is getting stronger the farther down the hallway I go. ...Wait. I think it's trying to tell me Dexter's location. So I start running down the hallway, and the smell gets stronger.

"Guys, follow me!" I scream. They exit the rooms they're checking. "Dexter must be this way!"

So we're all running now. I'm midway through the hall when I see Fusion Spawns come from around the corner and bounce toward us. I blast them down with my Lightning Gun, and a bolt of light flies into another Spawn. That didn't come from my gun. I turn around and see Aidan has a weapon out. It looks like a mechanical dark red crossbow designed to fire… plasma? I don't know. I don't know any of this. I keep running, and the smell gets so strong I can taste it, but then the smell starts to get weaker. I turn around and go back and it starts getting stronger again. We go back and forth a bit until I find the place where the smell is strongest. It's right in front of a storage closet door. Like all the rest, it has a lock. I destroy it by melting it and I kick the door open. And just like that, the paint smell goes away.

"Hello?" I ask quietly. "Dexter, are you in here?" Evan runs up to me and shines his flashlight in, and there he is. Dexter is lying on the floor of the room. He's chained by handcuffs to one of the pipes on the wall. His glasses are slightly broken, and his lab coat is very damaged and dirty. His hair is messed up, and he has bruises and cuts all over him. He looks like he's been beaten up pretty badly, and I think I know who the perpetrator of those acts was. Evan runs in and gets him up.

"Dexter! Dexter, are you OK?" Evan says. He shakes him a little bit, and that helps Dexter come to.

"Huh…" Dexter says, before looking at Evan. He then sees me, and I can feel from here his shock. He jumps up and tries to run to me, but is stopped by the handcuffs. "It's you… I just knew that we would meet again."

"Well… I'm here," I say, as Evan breaks the handcuff chain, freeing Dexter. "Come on, let's get you out of here-"

"Wait, wait!" Dexter says, pulling on me just as I am about to run. "I'm not as important now. We need to get _you_ out of here at the very least. We need to get you back to the past so you can save our world!"

Dexter starts running past us down the hallway in the direction we came from.

"Wait, hold on!" I say. I run after him. "What are you-"

"I built this place!" Dexter says. "I know the exact shortest route out of here-"

Something bursts through the floor and knocks us all on the ground. I look to the hole and Fusion Buttercup is hovering over it. She picks up Dexter, and I fruitlessly run up to try and get him off of her. It doesn't work, because Fusion Buttercup simply backhands me in the face and sends me back into the wall. My ears are ringing. My head hurts, especially on my right cheek, the place where Fusion Buttercup hit me. I'm certain it's bruised up.

 _"Really?"_ I hear a voice say. It sounds like Buttercup's, but distorted, more creepy-sounding. I look up and Fusion Buttercup is staring directly at me, hovering only feet away from me. She laughs a little. _"I can't believe you thought that would work. Now…"_

She raises her fist, and I can visibly see energy pulsing from it. She's gonna break everything in my face in one go, isn't she? It'll probably go through my face and everything behind it. I've seen the normal Buttercup do this with monsters before. I grab my Lightning Gun and fire a continuous stream of energy, but it doesn't seem to do anything to her. She sends out her own lasers that quickly overpower mine and send the gun flying away from me. I see it slide many yards down to my left, far out of my reach. I look back again, and she's about to try and hit me again. However, she's interrupted by something hitting her in the head. She looks up and turns around. Aidan hit her with his weapon. I look at Aidan, and for a split-second, he has the weird eyes. They're a teal color.

Aidan's eyes then go back to their normal blue, and when he sees Fusion Buttercup staring at him, he tries to run, but Fusion Buttercup zooms over and grabs him. Oh, no. I see where this is going. I try to get up but collapse again. I can barely move now. Evan runs up too, and Fusion Buttercup knocks him back just like she did with me.

"No, no, no, no, no," I keep saying in my mind. This isn't about to happen now. Fusion Buttercup puts Aidan up against the wall and charges the same fist that she tried to hit me with. I see the fear in Aidan's eyes as he looks into mine, and I swear time slows down. Regardless of the flow of time, Fusion Buttercup takes her supercharged fist and sends it through Aidan.

Evan screams out in horror while it feels like I can't even speak. I'm too horrified to even begin to describe this. I don't want to see this, but I can't look away. A second that feels like an eternity later, Fusion Buttercup violently pulls her fist out, puts Aidan on the floor and laughs. She faces me, her grin piercing the deepest corners of my mind. I back up against the wall in absolute fear as her eyes start to glow brightly, but another green line zooms through a wall and brings Fusion Buttercup away from me. I sit there in shock for a second, before I look down and see the hole in the door. There's a trail of crimson going from the hole to Aidan. He's not moving.

"No, no, please, no!" Evan keeps repeating as I hear him get closer. "Aidan! No!"

He runs to Aidan… well, more likely Aidan's dead body now... I… I still can't believe what I just saw... One of my close friends was just killed in front of me... in the most gruesome way possible... I stagger up and fall on my knees again next to Evan. There are tears in my eyes. I stare at… what's left of Aidan, with a horrified expression on his face even in death. Thankfully, Evan closes Aidan's eyes. He's trying his hardest not to cry himself, and he's shaking. Dexter walks to us both. I look up at him and he's also shocked. Not as much as we are, but shocked nonetheless.

"I'm s-sorry, Mark, b-but we have to go," Dexter says. "I understand this is hard, but we have to go right now!"

When Dexter says that, I notice that all the grief that's rushing through my body is quickly being replaced by anger and rage. I start clenching my fists tightly, and I'm gritting my teeth. I won't let Aidan be unavenged! I jump up, not even caring about the blood on me right now, and get my Lightning Gun.

"What- what are you doing, Mark?" Dexter asks. I ignore him and run through the holes Buttercup made when she tackled Fusion Buttercup. "No, wait, Mark!"

The holes go through hotel rooms, hallways and closets. I continue running toward where the holes stop. Every Fusion that I see from now on is going to get destroyed. I don't even care anymore. A Fusion Spawn makes the wrong move by getting in my sights. I aim at it as quickly as an aimbot hacker and hold down on the trigger, screaming. This attracts more monsters for me to shoot down. A few more Fusion Spawns. An Oil Ogre. A Cyberus. They all go down. After I shoot down the Cyberus, I scream out loudly and fall to my knees again, and I could flood this room given enough time. When I hear another explosion, I continue through the holes until I reach the last one. It leads to the atrium. There's a huge battle going on down below.

I look over the railing and see backup has arrived, as SCAMPERs blasted their way in and are firing on an army of Fusion Monsters from above. KND operatives come down and fight. Buttercup and Fusion Buttercup are fighting above this battle. I aim my Lightning Gun and fire on Fusion Buttercup. I don't care! I will destroy that murderer! But it seems to be ineffective, as Fusion Buttercup tries to laser me. I fall to the floor to prevent being sliced. When I get back up, I see Ben is also in another form now. It's a tiger-like humanoid alien that, also has a black-and-green outfit on like most of his aliens. But it looks kinda like a wrestling outfit. There's even a luchador mask on his face. OK, this is Rath. I don't know as much about Rath, but I do know from video footage of Ben fighting bad guys that Rath does not like to be angered.

"Let me tell you something, Fusions! Nobody messes with Rath!" He then proceeds to claw the nearby Spawns and Oil Ogres into puddles of Fusion Matter. He then jumps high up in the air to try and attack Fusion Buttercup, but Fusion Buttercup knocks him back into the building. Some of the ceiling collapses on him. Rath gets up and claws into the wall for a second, saying, "That includes YOU too, building!" He then jumps down and starts fighting the monsters again.

 _"Get the rest of it outta here!"_ Fusion Buttercup screams toward something on my left. I look to where she screams, and I see, on an adjacent balcony path, Oil Ogres are moving four carts full of beakers filled with a red liquid toward a strange, wide circular device. There are four prong-like structures sticking out on the edges, in a perpendicular fashion from each other. There's also a smooth ramp going up onto the main part of the device. It's mostly blue, which leads me to believe it's made from Dexlabs. There's a nearby control panel with a lot of buttons and dials on them, and the Oil Ogre presses a button on them. It's at this point Evan and Dexter catch up with me.

"Mark, there you are," Dexter says. Evan is not talking at all. "Listen to me: they took me hostage for a reason, other to lure you in. They wanted things from me. There were hidden carts of beakers of Antidote X in our… once secure storage rooms." Antidote X? Isn't that supposed to take away the Powerpuff Girls' abilities?

"What the heck did you have Antidote X for?!" I ask.

"Professor Utonium gave it to me a few years ago, saying that it would be better off in my hands than anyone else's, especially after it was believed Buttercup was gone."

I hear a strange noise behind me. I turn around, and the circular device is now on its side and remaining that way. There's no longer blue light coming from the inner circle part, but light from another place entirely. The Oil Ogres start pushing one of the carts through into the other area. Is that a portal? Because if it is, we can't let the Fusions take any more Antidote X through.

"Oh, no!" Dexter says. "Come on! Hurry!" Evan takes his teddy bear launcher and blasts a blue teddy bear at the carts and Oil Ogres. Once hitting the cart, it bursts into blue flames that spread rapidly and cover two of the three remaining carts. The Oil Ogres caught in the flames screech out for a few seconds and then they don't anymore. I'm at least 25 feet away and I can feel the heat from here. I guess that's what the blue ones do. The cart that wasn't hit is still bending and melting a bit. Some of the beakers fall out and break on the floor, spilling Antidote X there. Don't want any Powerpuffs going here. But I don't believe it hurts humans in any way.

Evan launches another teddy bear at the flames, light blue this time. It hits and misty fog covers and extinguishes the flames, revealing a pile of metal, glass, and Antidote X. After the flames go out, we run to the remaining cart of Antidote X. I look down at the battle, and it seems we're definitely overpowering them, especially with an alien like Rath on our side. I see Numbuh Five down below and I yell out to see if she hears me. She does, and when she sees me with Dexter, she says something to some operatives, and at least 10 or 15 guys in bulky armor start going up the closest stairway to our location.

I look back to the fight between the Buttercups and see that Buttercup has got Fusion Buttercup in a headlock now. In desperation, Fusion Buttercup starts thrashing around and firing lasers from her eyes. The thrashing is causing them to spin around while slicing through the building itself. OK, I have to help somehow.

I look to Dexter now. He's getting the beakers that didn't melt out of the cart. These carts look like they can hold at least 100 test tubes, and I think a third of them melted. Wait, I have an idea. If Fusion Buttercup also has the same powers as Buttercup, maybe they can be taken away just like how Antidote X would take away Buttercup's! I run over to Dexter.

"Dexter!" I say. "I think I know how to defeat Fusion Buttercup! Give me some of the Antidote X! I think it will neutralize her and take away her powers!"

Dexter looks at me for a second, before saying, "Are you sure it will work?"

I quickly shrug. "It's worth a shot. There's a lot of it anyway. Might as well put it to good use."

Dexter looks at Fusion Buttercup and Buttercup fighting, then back to me. "Alright," he says, before giving me one of the beakers. "Let's hope you're accurate with your throws."

"Don't worry. I am most of the time." Then behind Dexter and Evan, I see Fusion Spawns and a Cyberus come from a hallway.

"Watch my back," I say. Evan loads his teddy bear gun with a few more teddy bears of various colors and launches another blue one at them. Well, as they focus on the monsters coming toward us, I'll focus on Fusion Buttercup.

I take one of the test tubes from the cart, go to the railing and throw it at Fusion Buttercup. She thrashes to the left to dodge it and tries to laser me, but Buttercup pulls her away just in time, making the laser cut a line through parts of the building on my right instead. She continues to laser everything she can as the beaker flies and lands right on the edge of the fountain, causing it to spill onto the ground. OK, let's try this again. I take another one of the tubes from the cart and go back to the railing. Buttercup sees that I'm ready, and puts Fusion Buttercup between me and her again, but covers her eyes as well this time. I throw the beaker, and to ensure that she doesn't get neutralized as well, Buttercup lets go, making Fusion Buttercup fly toward me. In a split-second, I hear glass break, and I'm tackled to the ground. The next thing I know, something's trying to punch me in the face. Fusion Buttercup.

I dodge her first punch, and I kick her off of me. If I'm correct, Fusion Buttercup's powers should be gone now, which means not only would the punches not be as… lethal, she won't be able to last as long now. As I get back up, she screams and runs at me, and I hold the trigger down and unleash another continuous beam of lightning on her. This time, she only is able to withstand a few seconds before stopping in her tracks. When she falls backwards, I jump on her, stick my Lightning Gun into her face, and fire a continuous beam of bright energy until I feel her liquefy under me. When I get up, that horrible Fusion Buttercup is now just a puddle of Fusion Matter.

"That was clever," Buttercup says, her voice on my left. I turn to her and see that she's nodding and smiling. "Nice work."

Numbuh Five and the other agents come up to me now. They look at the puddle of Fusion Matter that was formerly a Fusion Buttercup.

"Well…" Numbuh Five says. She looks at me and smiles. "Numbuh Five is impressed."

At that moment, a sound comes from my NanoCom. It's a sort of "dun, DUN" sound. I look at the NanoCom's holo-screen, and this text is there:

 **ALL COMPONENTS FOR NANO CREATION IDENTIFIED**

 **WOULD YOU LIKE TO CREATE A NANO?**

 **YES / NO**

What the heck is a "Nano"? Is it good or bad? What is it for? I look to Dexter in confusion. "Do it," he says. I click the **"YES"** button, and a small laser shoots out of the NanoCom into the puddle of Fusion Matter. My NanoCom then projects a screen saying, **"NANO CREATION PROGRESS"** , which is a bar that's filling up from the left to right at a steady rate. The Fusion Matter that was part of Fusion Buttercup rises into the air, forms into a ball and starts glowing. Rings of energy are pulsating from the ball of light as it begins to form a certain shape. Then, after one big, bright flash, I see something hovering where the Fusion Matter used to be. That specific thing is… interesting. It's as if someone took Buttercup, shrunk her, then made her more cartoony. I mean, the head is ridiculously bigger than it should be.

"What in the world is that?" I say quietly, just in case it hears me. Dexter hears me, though, because he says,

"That, Mark, is what we call a Nano. A Nano is made out of Fusion Matter, like a Fusion. However, these Nanos are not evil in any way. In fact, they are the strongest weapon we have against them. As you have seen, they are created by the NanoCom when a Fusion is defeated. That means that just like Fusions can be made of us, Nanos of us can also be made. Oh, and don't think that because this Nano Buttercup is small means she is weak. She is probably one of the more powerful Nanos that can be made of anyone-"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. I'm a Nano, and I'm awesome," a voice says. It sounds almost exactly like Buttercup. I look over to it, and the Nano's looking at us. It- no, she looks at me next. "I see you know what Nanos really like to fight those things."

"Honestly, I had no idea Nanos were a thing until just now," I say back. I want to be honest to this… Nano. I'm still kinda confused about how these things work.

"Well, you picked a good one to make," she says. "Are there any more of those monsters around-"

Suddenly, the ground violently shakes, knocking everyone down. I cling onto the nearest thing: the cart of Antidote X. I hear clinking and crashing on the ground. I think a couple of spare beakers of Antidote X came out. After a few seconds, the shaking stops. I wait for a second to make sure it's really over, before slowly getting up. Looks like a few beakers did fall out. I think there's still a good amount of intact beakers, though.

"Is everyone OK?" Dexter asks.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I say. I get up and look to my NanoCom. There's one button on the screen, saying I can call back my Nano into my NanoCom at any time. I press that button, and a red flash takes place, and a beam of red light enters the side of my NanoCom. I think my Nano just went inside it as energy. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, they got one of the carts through the portal. If they're planning to do what I think they'll do, we need to get as much as we can back immediately before they-"

A loud, creaking noise cuts Dexter off. I look over the rail and see things hitting the ground.

"Uh, oh!" Evan says. "That doesn't sound good!"

I look up. It looks like a lot more lasers cut through the building than I thought. The earthquake didn't help either, as it looks like the building's about to fall apart. These thoughts are confirmed when the building starts to collapse. While we're in it.

"IT'S GONNA COLLAPSE!" I yell as loud as I can to make sure everyone knows so that they can get out ASAP.

"Come on, we can get out of here using the Warp Gate! Go, go, hurry!" Dexter says. Numbuh Five, Dexter, Evan and I, along with the nearest operatives, hurry over to the control panel. It's melted a little bit on the left from the blue fire thing Evan did with his teddy bear launcher, but I think it can still work.

"Everyone, get out now!" I hear Numbuh One say, before leaving the building himself. Buttercup zooms down to get everyone out as well. Then a green flash. Ben's also helping, probably also as XLR8. Deafening crashing sounds take place above us as Dexter turns the portal on. After a second, the portal appears after a bright flash. It looks like the portal leads to a dark room with metal walls. I don't know where exactly it goes, but if it's not in a place where the foundation's about to collapse, I'm fine with it. As soon as it opens, we all run in. Once we're on the other side, I turn around. I see operative after operative make it through, but not everyone does, as a part of the building falls down from the ceiling and breaks the floor, causing everyone nearby to fall. Even the Warp Gate starts falling, and through it, we see the entire building imploding before we're blasted with dust.


	6. Ascending

**_Mark - January 14, 2019 - 2:31 PM_**

Dust, dust, and more dust keep coming through the portal. I hate this dust. It keeps blowing in my face and making me cough. It's gonna fill this entire room if we don't stop it from coming through. Thankfully, Dexter turns the portal off using the control panel on the other side, and after a flash of light, that rushing noise of wind begins to fade away.

"Is everyone OK?" Dexter says yet again. Yeah, like we'd be perfectly OK after we narrowly escaped a building collapsing, and are now in a room that was quickly filling with dust. I'm not OK, especially after what I saw. I see it in my mind again: Aidan getting punched straight through the heart, and Fusion Buttercup's grin while she does it. We never even got his body out of there. It's in a pile of rubble now. Oh, he means if we're physically OK.

"Yeah... we're alright," I say, coughing a little from the dust. "I think we'd prefer moving out of this room, though."

"In a second." Dexter then starts looking around the room. A couple KND operatives turn on their flashlights because this room is really dark except for the dim blue emergency power lights. The light beams shine throughout the room and all its nooks and crannies, revealing this room was the same room in which I went through the time machine. One of the flashlight beams meets the cart that just came through the portal less than five minutes ago. It's completely empty now. There are literally no beakers or test tubes in there now.

"Dexter! The cart's here," Numbuh Five says. She was shining that flashlight. Dexter runs over to it, and when he sees there's nothing in there now, he starts getting visibly worried.

"This is not good. This is not good," Dexter says quickly. "But... we need to find the other things first! Hopefully, they are not gone yet!"

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?" I ask.

"They abducted me not just for the Antidote X. They wanted something else. They wanted to know the locations of the rooms where I put all my inventions' schematics. I didn't tell them, of course, but they might have already swept this whole part of the building if the other side was set up here. We need to hurry!"

Dexter runs up a ramp to a door. I follow as another operative says, "You heard him. Let's go!" We go up the ramp and into the hallway. Right across from it is a waiting room, the glass barrier between it and the hallway broken. When I look into the room, an image flashes into my mind: Andrew is sitting in the chair farthest from the entrance, and a bright light is front of him. That has to be the Guardian. The image only appears for a split second before I'm back in this normal reality. We all follow Dexter.

While we head down the hallway, I look at Evan. He hasn't spoken a single word since... what happened to Aidan. He's also moving a lot slower than the rest of us.

"Evan?" I ask. He looks up at me after a few seconds of silence.

"...This is what happens," he says. "I've... prepared myself for something like this since Chris died. And yet I feel just as hurt as then…"

I stop him in his tracks. "Nobody else is going to die. Dexter says he can get me back to the past. I... I could warn everyone. I could prevent this from happening."

Evan remains silent for a few more seconds. "I just want to get out of here before I lose anyone else."

"Let's go, then." We run to where all the other operatives are, which is further down the hallway. They're all heading into a huge hole in the wall. Is there we're meant to be going? We run in and are met with destruction. The shelves are torn apart. There's so much shredded paper on the floor that I would be afraid to go in here if I was barefoot. Wouldn't want to get paper cuts. Dexter walks through, though, but he's wearing boots, so he's safe. He looks around the room with a flashlight, heading toward a specific shelf. Like the rest, it's also fallen over and there's shredded paper everywhere. Did they destroy everything in here?

Dexter looks around the specific area he's in. He turns back to us and says, "They destroyed all of it."

"Wait, were the time machine schematics in there? Does this mean that-" I am in the middle of saying, before Dexter interrupts me:

"No. Computress has the most important invention schematics already installed into her memory, and that includes the time machine's, so we can still get you back. Thank goodness for that. I just wanted to get the actual paper schematics in case anything happened. But it looks like they destroyed everything so that we couldn't use them-"

Another massive tremor shakes the ground and dust comes from the ceiling. It only lasts a second this time, but a part of the ceiling behind us collapses.

"OK, we really need to get out of here," Evan says. All the other operatives around us also agree with him. We don't say anything else before we turn around and head back to the door that goes into this hallway. Yep, it also has a hole in it. It looks like a Cyberus just ran right through it. Yeah, they broke into this place a while ago. I wonder if there are still any more of them around.

We walk through the hole in the door - no need to use the scanners - and walk back the way I came when I entered Dexlabs. Other than the flashlights, the only lights guiding us are the blue emergency lights that flicker every now and then. We're walking past the part of the hallway where Andrew and I saw Dad when I hear a rapid beeping noise. It's that musical note. It sounds like, to put it vaguely, "dun dundun DUN-dun…" I only hear that much of it before Dexter initiates a call.

"Numbuh Two?" Dexter says.

"Dexter, what is your location?" Numbuh Two's voice comes from the NanoCom. I hear explosions outside. Numbuh Two must be near a battle.

"We're inside Dexlabs. We got out of the hotel using the Warp Gate. Mark and his friends helped me get out."

"Good, good. Glad to hear you're OK. Well, listen: you probably know this by now, but we've received reports that Tech Tunnelers may have dug into the lab from below and may have taken some stuff with the help of Oil Ogres. We managed to get most of the inventions and devices on the upper levels out, but we don't know about anything else."

"Tech Tunnelers?" I ask, before turning to Evan.

"Before the invasion, Dexter used them for expanding his lab's underground areas. Now Fuse uses them to tunnel under everything and... breach into places…"

I turn back to Dexter. He's still talking with Numbuh Two, now about what happened when we left the hotel. I missed out on a bit of the conversation, but when I focus back to it, I hear: "...and the schematics for everything were torn to pieces. All the Antidote X was taken from the cart as well."

"We'll take care of that. As for you and everyone else around, you need to get outta here! We just got reports of a massive division of Fusion Monsters approaching from Galaxy Gardens and Steam Alley for another attack. Our spies even report that a Fusion Dexter and maybe even more Fusion Powerpuffs might be leading this assault."

"Wait, there's MORE of them?" I ask. It was super difficult just to take down ONE! And all the Antidote X we have is gone! The rest of it is in the hands of the Fusions now!

"Sadly, yes," Numbuh Two says. "We can tell by now we won't be able to hold Tech Square for long, so we're getting everyone else out now."

"So where should we go?"

"We've been able to hold the ground level of Dexlabs and a couple of the upper levels. We won't be able to for long, though. We'll pick you up right outside!"

"Affirmative. Dexter out." Dexter then hangs up. "Alright, let's get moving!"

"What if there are other things in this building the Fusions may not have found yet?" Numbuh Five asks.

"It doesn't matter. We need to get him out as soon as possible." He points to me, and everyone else looks at me.

"Why?" one operative asks. "Just wondering."

"I'll explain that later, but we need to go! Hurry!" Dexter quickly moves down the hallway toward the elevators. We follow suit. All we have are our flashlights and the blue emergency lights to guide us. Once we get to the elevators, Dexter is about to press the button to summon one down here, but the ground shakes violently again. Then, I hear distant creaking noises, followed by something falling past us behind the elevator doors, and finally a crashing sound. Yeah, taking the elevator is not a good idea. Dexter probably knows that, too, because he opens the door to the stairwell.

Without saying a word, we go up multiple flights of steps. However, given we're not really in that much of a situation where we must run or face immediate death, we get tired faster. I have to catch my breath by the time we reach the ground floor, but we still must get outside to be rescued.

"Hold on a second," I say under my heavy breathing. The rest of the people stop as well to do other things, like reloading their weapons. I lean against the wall and look down. I see the bloodstains on my shoes, knees, and hands. It's Aidan's… I see Fusion Buttercup killing Aidan again... I hate them. I hate them all. I am going to kill as many of the Fusions as I can... within reason, of course. I'm not going to run into an army of Fusion Monsters, but if I see one by itself, I will destroy it without hesitation.

A crashing sound happens behind us. I don't feel tired anymore, now that I've received another supply from my adrenal glands. We all turn around, and I think I hear something drilling through the wall a stairway down, halfway between the 1st basement floor and here. Except the drilling is coming from the other side. Next thing I know, a machine that looks kinda like a cyclops Dexbot bursts through the wall, but it's bigger, has two continuous tracks instead of one, and has large, large drills for hands. I fire on it before I even see in full what it is, and by the time I'm done, it's already in pieces. That's when an explosion blows up everything a few floors up. We go through the door to the hallway and close it only seconds before the fires reach our floor.

"So that was a Tech Tunneler…" I say.

"Yep," Evan says. "Honestly, t-that's probably one of the less weird types of Fusion Monsters. There's... a lot of different ones." We start moving again as he continues talking: "There are Fusion trees… There are giant Fusion spiders with wolf heads… it's really strange."

We continue to follow Dexter. After all, he did build the place, just like how he built the DexHotel. At one point while we run through the halls, the power comes back on again. After turning right onto one hallway, we run into a squadron of KND operatives. And it looks like Numbuh One is with them. Of course, we instinctively aim our weapons for a second but then draw them back once we know they're on our side.

"Dexter! Numbuh Five! You made it out!" Numbuh One says.

"Barely," Numbuh Five says. "But we need to get Mark out ASAP."

"He's more important than you think," Dexter says. "Numbuh Two said he'll be evacuating us at the entrance."

"Well, let's get going!" Numbuh One says. I wonder how many times I've heard this statement or something similar to it in the last five minutes. He starts going back the way he came for us. We follow him until we reach something familiar: the lobby. Yeah, this is the lobby. The front desk is on the left and the Dexbot would normally be behind it. Then on the right are... yep, the cabinets which would usually be full of inventions, but are now empty except for a couple more things, some of them new. There are KND operatives everywhere in the lobby, getting things out of secret compartments that I never even knew existed. What other secret things are hidden in the rooms and hallways of this building?

We move past the operatives getting things and are about to pass by the cabinets of inventions when Dexter tells us to stop. I turn around and Dexter's getting something out of the cabinet. It looks kinda like an engine, but it's more cylindrical, and there are pipes all around the sides.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"We need this!" Dexter says. "It's an important part of the time machine that we'll need to make! Does anyone have a backpack I can put this in?"

"I got one!" Evan says. Oh yeah, he does. He takes off his backpack, opens it and takes the remaining teddy bears out. Looks like Evan only has a few left. Two are red, one is dark red, another one is light blue, and the last three are brown. I think the brown ones are normal teddy bears. Dexter then puts the device in Evan's backpack while Evan loads the teddy bears into the launcher. While he does this, I notice that on the side, there's a label: **"T.H.U.M.P.E.R"**. So that's what it's called. I guess I'll learn what the acronym stands for later.

"What is it? Is it the engine for it or something?" I ask.

"Yes," Dexter says. "I'll explain more about it once we're out of here."

We head for the entrance, and all I see outside is the street, a bit of Tech Square, and then it just cuts off. Oh, right, the ground Dexlabs is on is higher up than everything else. On that part of the ground from what I can see, Fusion Monsters and KND operatives are battling each other. I can see Tech Wings and Cyberusses and Oil Ogres and other monsters. There are monsters even made out of the road themselves, and a few made from streetlights. The ones made from streetlights are flashing red, yellow or green lights to temporarily blind their targets, then they rush up on them and kill them. Yeah, we're not safe here. I can already tell the Fusion Monsters are quickly overwhelming the operatives.

"Uh, let's go the other way," I say. I turn around and Dexter, Evan, and the rest are already halfway down the lobby. I follow them, and Dexter jumps behind the desk and does something. Whatever it did, it opens up a door in the wall behind the desk. The metal slides back and away to reveal a secret passage. I'm not even surprised. This is probably only one of dozens of secret passages. I always figured that's how during Bring Your Kids to Work Day, Dexter would be on one side of the facility, then be on the other side in almost an instant.

Once I get to the group, the door's already fully opened. I ask, "Where does this go?"

Dexter replies, "It can go to multiple places, but we need it to get to a special elevator that can go up right to the top of the facility, where my parents' house is."

Oh, yeah. The house. When Dexter's parents apparently decided to move to Tech Square, Dexter made an identical copy of his old house right on top of Dexlabs. It was weird when it first happened. Dexter goes back to his communicator and calls Numbuh Two. After a few ringing sounds, the call begins.

"Numbuh Two? Do you read? We won't be able to leave from ground level!" Dexter says.

"Yeah, I can see that," Numbuh Two says. "My SCAMPER's out of ammo, so I can't take 'em out. You have a secret passage that could lead you up top, correct?"

"Affirmative! We're about to take that passage now!"

I hear blasting sounds now. I turn to them and the operatives are firing at the Fusion Monsters, which are beginning to get inside the building. Evan aims the THUMPER at the monsters, yells, "Clear away from the entrance!", and blasts a bright red teddy bear right at the entrance, engulfing it in red flames. That'll hold them off for a while.

"Alright, we'll meet you up there!" Numbuh Two says.

"Copy that. Dexter out." Dexter closes the call, then we start entering the passage. As I start entering, I hear something strange. It sounds like someone's blowing into something, except 10 times louder. At the same time, everything feels 20 degrees colder now. I turn around and see something I really did not want to see. It's Blossom, except she's green, has red eyes, and all parts of her clothing that would normally be pink and white on the normal Blossom's outfit and red and black now. Oh jeez, it's a Fusion Blossom! The Fusion Monsters begin coming toward us.

Once I see Fusion Blossom, I turn around and immediately run into the passage. We turn left as I hear KND operatives blasting at the approaching monsters, followed by screeches, screams and laser fire. As Evan and I follow Dexter into the nearest tube elevator, something bursts through the wall behind us. The elevator quickly heads up at that point, but something zooms up and hits it from below, tearing a hole through the floor. We all hug the walls at that point. But the elevator begins to make creaking noises and slow down as I hear something else burst through the wall above us and go away from Dexlabs. One of the normal Powerpuffs probably took Fusion Blossom away from us. The elevator stops automatically at the nearest floor: the top level. That's a part of the building five or so floors up, where most of the area is outside, except for a couple smaller buildings.

Once the elevator stops, we go outside and look around this room. There's light coming through a hole torn through one of the walls on our left, but not the wall on the other side. I think this is the hole Fusion Blossom made. From what I can see with the help of the light coming through the hole and the dim blue emergency lights, the elevator is definitely broken, too broken for us to use it. However, I see Dexter heading toward a control panel.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Replacing the elevator with a working one," Dexter says. Huh. Dexter presses a button, and a robotic arm comes out to take the elevator out. However, before we can do anything else, I hear something come through the bright hole in the wall. At the same time, a shadow blocks most of the light. I look over there, and I see a Fusion Spawn right outside the hole. Then another comes through, and another. The wall around the hole is suddenly punched through by something large to make it even wider. I look up there. It's a monster made entirely out of the road and Fusion Matter. Then another hole's punched through and lands on the control panel, nearly hitting Dexter. Dexter runs back, accepting this is not going to work if all these Fusion Monsters are after us. Some of the operatives fire at the monsters coming through while we run to a door that I believe leads to the outside. It does lead outside because when it opens, I see light coming through. We hurry through the door and shut it on the monsters. There's pounding noises on it a few seconds later, and we start heading down a small stairway to the main part of the... well, I guess it's the top floor, because technically, there's only a cylindrical tower and a rectangular and wide but smaller building above this floor.

There are several different pathways you can take around this outer level once you go down the stairway: one path goes around the edge, which has a branch leading off it that goes to a wider, rectangular building with working spaces and elevators, and another goes under the bridge connecting the top floor of the rectangular building to the cylindrical tower that we just exited from and intercepts with the path going around the edge.

Fusion Monsters and heroes are fighting here, too. SCAMPERs are firing down on squadrons of Oil Ogres and Fusion Spawns, but the monsters just keep coming from the west. Ben is up here too, fighting as yet another alien. Well, he transforms into another one right after I saw the first one, but what I saw of the first one was that it was short, and had a mustache. Well, the new alien is taller, skinnier, is completely black except for his torso (which is green), and has long antennae (with golden plugs to top it off at the ends) on his head. His fingers also have those plug things, as well as his tail. He only has one eye, which is bright green. This alien is Feedback. From what I know, Feedback can absorb and blast all forms of energy. Yeah, it just blasted a bolt of electricity out of its fingers at a Cyberus, causing it to back off. It then blasts energy downward, launching him upwards. I stop focusing on Ben now.

A couple of Fusion Spawns see us and try to do something, but the other operatives blast them down before we can ourselves. The operatives nearby that aren't in our group band near our group. We move through the chaos and blaster fire, under Fusion Matter blasts and even through the monsters if we have to hurry. Battles between the Powerpuffs and Fusion Powerpuffs take place above us. The Powerpuffs are too distracted with fighting to help us right now. It's better to keep the Fusion ones distracted because if they didn't, they could wreak havoc upon us.

We start going toward the other tower, and we're halfway there and are about to turn left when a crashing noise happens behind us. I turn around for a split-second just to see what it is, and I see another Fusion. On top of the green skin and bright red eyes, it's wearing a dark red lab coat, glasses, dark green gloves, very dark gray pants and boots, and has a very dangerous claw-looking weapon. This is the Fusion Dexter! Yeah, we don't hesitate to start blasting while moving toward one of the elevators on the outside of the rectangular building.

"Numbuh Two! Do you copy? I have eyes on Fusion Dexter!" Numbuh One says. I turn to him and see he has an earpiece microphone on. I turn back to Fusion Dexter again while we're running through this insane battle, and see Fusion Dexter now has eyes on us too. He takes out another weapon that looks kinda like a pistol, aims it at us and fires. A grappling hook fires out and barely misses Numbuh One, hitting another operative behind him instead. And within the span of 10 seconds, the operative is pulled back and slammed in the face by Fusion Dexter's claw weapon. I'll never know that operative's code number.

We start running at this point, knocking any Fusion out of our path. We keep blasting Fusion Dexter too, me more so than anyone. I'll waste the rest of the energy in this gun on Fusion Dexter if I have to. Dexter presses the button to call the pneumatic elevator, and it feels like an eternity waiting for it, even though it may only be a few seconds. Once the elevator comes down, makes that "ding" sound and opens up, we all run inside with barely enough space left. I end up being pushed somewhere on the right side of the elevator, giving me a look at the battle. But as the elevator goes up, it allows me to see Fusion Dexter come around the corner toward us. He uses the grappling hook gun again and it hits the elevator, and another hook comes out of the back of the gun, which digs into the metal floor and leaves us stuck. Well, we're moving up slightly, but I know our elevator is going to stop anyway. Another Fusion zooms in front of the elevator. I don't see it because I can't turn around at the moment due to everyone around me, but it frightens people enough to scream. I manage to turn around and a Fusion Powerpuff is looking directly at us. It's Fusion Blossom again, and her eyes are quickly getting brighter.

Ben jumps in the way, still as Feedback, and blocks the lasers. Since Feedback can redirect all kinds of energy, he can redirect Powerpuff lasers too. Ben takes advantage of this to blast the lasers back, sending Fusion Blossom far away from us. He jumps back down to the ground and transforms into something much larger, at least 20-25 feet tall. It looks robotic, is mostly green and white, is very bulky and has glowing cylinders on his arms, revealing a green energy that's constantly moving around within them. These energy-containers are also in the form of spheres on his shoulders. His head is also pointed and armored. How could I forget this one? Atomix: the walking nuclear reactor.

Ben then blasts Fusion Dexter and the grappling hook, breaking it and allowing the elevator to continue up to the top. Fusion Dexter is blasted far back somewhere near the stairway, and I can't see him after that. Ben turns around and levitates upward alongside the elevator as it goes up. He speaks to us, although his mouth doesn't visibly move: "Do not worry, Dexter! I shall distract them while you escape!"

Ben turns around and flies after Fusion Blossom, screaming out a chant of some sort before I hear a loud crashing noise in the distance. Then I see another dark green trail fly after where Ben just went. I think that's a Fusion Bubbles. The trails go up into the sky above Dexlabs and a few seconds later, the elevator stops and the door opens to a hallway that turns left very close from the elevator's exit. There's glass all over the floor. We stop for a moment to catch our breath. It's a good thing we did because we hear the elevator on the other side of the bridge open. The moment we hear that, everyone goes silent. Thankfully, none of us are in the view of whoever just came out the other end. I am pretty certain that's Fusion Dexter.

We wait quietly while the footsteps get closer and closer. I get ready to fire, and I look to Evan. He nods, indicating that he's also ready. Numbuh 5 hand-signals the other agents something, and they signal something else back. I'm not entirely sure what those signals mean, but I'm certain it's something along the lines of the operatives confirming to Numbuh Five that they're all ready to blast down Fusion Dexter, or whatever that is coming down the hallway. One operative takes out a thin, wide disc with white and blue edges and a dark-red center. He presses the center, and it starts emitting red light from the center. Every moment or so, it stops glowing, then starts again. It keeps happening more and more rapidly. I think this is a bomb of some sort. The operative then runs into the view of whatever is on the bridge and throws the disc at it. However, I hear a "clink" noise and the operative gets an "oh, no" look on his face. Then I see the disk fly at him. A wave of energy flies out in all directions, but it dissipates before it reaches us. The wave of energy surrounds the operative, though, and it completely vaporizes him. Thankfully, there's nothing left over. OK, Fusion Dexter certainly knows we're here now. Wait, he must have already known we were here. After all, he SAW us going up the elevator to this place. We get ready as the footsteps get closer and closer. I look to Numbuh Five again. She's counting down with her fingers. 3, 2, 1!

As soon as that last finger goes down to turn Numbuh Five's hand into a fist, we all run into Fusion Dexter's view and fire as soon as we see him. We unload a ton of firepower on him, whether it be plasma, teddy bears, or anything else. If it's teddy bears, only normal brown ones are fired, because we know it would be a terrible idea to fire anything else in this cramped space. Well, maybe the light blue could work, but if it could extinguish blue flames (which are usually in the thousands when it comes to degrees), it must be far colder than anything I've experienced. As we fire on Fusion Dexter, I notice that the glass on all sides of the hallway is shattered. This must be the hallway Numbuh One and Dexter were originally knocked out of by Fusion Buttercup, and where Fusion Buttercup took Dexter to the Infected Zone.

At first, Fusion Dexter's getting wrecked by us, but then he pulls out a hexagon-shaped device from one of his lab coat's pockets. He throws it and it stops in midair. It begins to float as it unleashes a green energy shield that stretches out to the height and width of the entire hallway. It also starts redirecting the things we're firing toward us. I barely dodge one of lightning bolts coming from my gun after it redirects, and I stop firing. Other people do so as well when they see nothing's really working.

With none of us able to do anything because of the energy shield, Fusion Dexter just stares at us, and we do the same to him. He must be stalling us for as long as he can in order to prevent us from getting away. It's at this point that I see Fusion Dexter has something large on his back. It looks like a giant container for something, except the material for said container looks really hard to destroy. There's a tube coming from the top all the way down to a blaster-looking weapon that is attached to his belt. I don't know what's in there, but it's probably- ...Wait. I think that's the Antidote X.

I hear loud screams above us. Not a few dozen feet above us, I'm talking THOUSANDS of feet up. I look up and I see a large white thing with two green things on each side of it, and it seems they're pulling the white thing apart. Wait, Atomix is mostly white! Just as I think that, there's a green flash and the green things go all over the place. They start heading down toward us. Then another green flash and two more trails of light come up toward that battle, one pink and one green. Bubbles, on the other hand, approaches Fusion Dexter from our left, and I scream as loud as I can:

 **"BUBBLES, WAIT! HE'S GOT ANTIDOTE X!"**

Bubbles immediately stops and turns around. Fusion Dexter turns to Bubbles, takes his Antidote X-blaster and fires a ray of bright red energy at her. However, he misses her, because she swerves out of the way. She flies up toward where Fusion Blossom and Fusion Bubbles are fighting Blossom and Buttercup. OK, Fusion Dexter may not risk losing two powerful Fusions, right? It looks like he doesn't care because he's about to aim the blaster upward at the Powerpuffs and Fusion Powerpuffs. However, Numbuh One activates his rocket boots, jumps over the edge and flies past where the energy shield is. Now, he's able to fire on Fusion Dexter, and he does exactly that. Bright energy beams fly out of the pistol, hitting Dexter.

When Fusion Dexter gets blasted, his aim gets knocked off because he starts firing in the wrong direction. I can't even focus on what's happening above, but I can hear the distant blasts. Fusion Dexter turns to Numbuh One, grabs the hexagonal device keeping the shield up, and shifts it so he can block Numbuh One. However, I guess he knows that by doing so, we can fire at him, so he backs up and positions the device so that we can't fire on him and neither can he. Numbuh One simply flies up on top of the hallway right above where Fusion Dexter is. Now he can fire down on Fusion Dexter. Fusion Dexter fires up his blaster up at Numbuh One, but I think that since the blaster uses Antidote X, it won't harm humans. However, I'm wrong, as Numbuh One gets hit and falls back into the hallway. He's barely moving.

 **"NIGEL! HURRY!"** Numbuh Five screams. Fusion Dexter pushes the device, and it goes over Numbuh One and reforms the shield, blocking us from him. Fusion Dexter takes out the grappling hook blaster, and it hits Numbuh One and pulls him toward Fusion Dexter. Fusion Dexter closes the claw on his weapon around Numbuh One's ankle, so when Numbuh One tries to take off with his rocket boots, nothing happens.

"Nigel's in critical danger! We're blocked off from him! We need immediate help!" Numbuh Five says into her communicator. Fusion Dexter takes out another blaster that's purple and black and is about to fire at Numbuh One when something fast and green takes him away from Fusion Dexter. It stops in the hallway, revealing that it's Buttercup. She uses her laser vision to destroy the shield-making device too, allowing us to fire on Fusion Dexter. He tries to fire at Buttercup as she flies Numbuh One upwards, but we fire at him first. Fusion Dexter retaliates on us and hits some of the operatives, but thankfully not me or Evan. He holds the blaster with one hand while firing, and at the same time, he's getting one of the shield-making devices from the pocket he got the first one from. He throws it, and it creates another shield, blocking us off again. I fire my Lightning Gun and the bolt passes by the shield right before it is able to redirect it, so it continues along and hits Fusion Dexter. It hits his blaster in the place right where the tube connects, and as a result, Antidote X starts spilling everywhere. Looks like there was a failsafe for that, though, because the spill stops very quickly. Fusion Dexter looks at us, then up to Planet Fusion. What is he doing?

That's when we hear whooshing sounds getting closer and closer, from our left. I turn to where they're coming from and a massive Tech Wing, significantly larger than the Tech Wing I encountered before, dives downward and flies under the bridge. Six other normal-sized Tech Wings are flying alongside it. We can fire upon them, so we do exactly that. Evan fires a red teddy bear at one Tech Wing in the back of the squadron and lands a hit on its wing. It consumes the Tech Wing in flames, and it falls to the ground, screeching. I look to Fusion Dexter while Evan is doing this, and he looks directly at me. Then, he jumps off the bridge onto the giant Tech Wing's back as it begins to fly up toward the Powerpuffs and Fusion Powerpuffs. Oh no! Fusion Dexter's going to attack them with the Antidote X! Wait, his blaster's broken, though. But the way he looked at me prior to jumping onto the giant Tech Wing seemed to mean that their plan hadn't been set back in any way.

"How are we going to get the shield down?" one operative asks, making me focus back on what's happening right now.

"I know," Evan says. He takes out his teddy bear launcher and fires a dark red teddy bear into the air, but slightly forward so that when he shoots it, it also goes a little bit forward. "Go back! Now!" We do that, and all huddle near the elevator farthest away from the hallway. There's a sound of an explosion, and it gets a lot warmer, even where we are. After a while, the heat goes away and we are able to progress. The closest operative to the hallway peeks down it and says the shield is gone. We destroyed the device keeping the shield up and replaced it with a crater in the floor. We head through the hallway as fast as we can, making sure not to fall into the newly made hole. The battles continue all around and above us. I'm about to go into the elevator when I hear multiple zipping sounds, then a huge explosion on my right. It sounds different from the rest. I don't exactly know for sure what it is. Before entering the elevator room, I back up enough so I can see where the explosion was. There, on the Dexlabs outer level, I see a lot of smoke rising out of a giant hole in the floor there. Dark red smoke. After I see the dark red smoke, I see Ben come down, still as Atomix. He changes form to Feedback again, and goes into the hole the smoke's coming out of, and I hear more blasting noises and explosions.

"Mark, come on! Get in here!" Evan says. I look down and they're all waiting. I head into the elevator room and we shut and seal the door behind us. The room on this floor is similarly lit by a blue emergency light. Dexter's at a control panel, probably setting everything up.

"How much do you have left in your weapon?" I ask.

Evan looks into the barrel with his hands as far away from the trigger as possible, and he says, "Only one. It's chilly." I look at him confused for a second before I get it: His only teddy bear left in the THUMPER must be the one that freezes stuff. It's still crazy, though, how Evan was a part of the Kids Next Door and I never even knew. I should've been able to tell Evan was hiding something. Well, I kinda figured he was keeping something hidden before this, but I didn't know it was something this crazy.

"Mark, it's ready. You go first," Dexter says. I turn around and see an elevator come up and open, allowing access. I go in first, of course, and stay in the middle. Everyone else surrounds me, to make sure I'm protected on all sides. I've become a top priority. It's strange. Yesterday, I was taking my last final before school ended, and now I'm in the future, and apparently I'm so important that at least 10 operatives and commanders are surrounding me. It's such a drastic change it's messing with my head, like when our family moved from place to place during the years since the Powerpuff Girls were created. Actually, now that I think about it, this change is significantly bigger than that, because, in the case of the latter, it was just a house or apartment that got destroyed or messed up. In the case of right now, THE ENTIRE WORLD is getting messed up, infected and even more. This is, without a doubt, the weirdest and craziest day of my life. And that's not even accounting for Aidan... and... I once again promise to myself will destroy every Fusion Monster that I can, so that this won't happen to Evan, Amanda, Lucas, Andrew, or anyone else I care about.

I can't really see much in the elevator from where I am, except the tops of stuff. Lights flash by a few times as we quickly ascend. During our movement upward, I think we pass by another floor. The moment we stop moving upward, we all rush out. We're in a room. We're in a bedroom, more specifically. There's a lot of people in here, so I can't see much of it except the walls, which are a beige color, the orange floor, and a bed, which has blue covers. I turn around and see the last operative leave the elevator. Right after this happens, the elevator goes straight back down, and a red circular mat is put in its place. I hear something mechanical move below that mat, possibly blocking the elevator tube off so no one falls in there accidentally.

As the operatives begin to clear out of the room, I can see more of the room. There's a bookshelf with, of course, books, but also action figures, little plastic dinosaurs, toy rocket ships, comic books and more. This is definitely a boy's room, maybe Dexter's. But why has his house been moved? Back then, I heard Dexter's house was in the Genius Grove neighborhood. Well, I head out the door and move through the hallway.

The walls of this hallway are similarly beige, but the carpet on the floor is purple this time. I momentarily turn around and see a bunch of pictures and words on the door, all basically saying the room behind the door is dangerous and nobody should enter. There's one specific picture that catches my eye for longer. It's a picture of the Dee Dee girl who messed up the time machine, except she's been glued onto a picture of a stop sign. Is she still alive, or was she another victim of the invasion? I have no idea of knowing if she's alive or not. I turn back and follow Dexter and the other operatives through the house. We go through the living room and other rooms which I don't really pay much attention to because I realize I'm still technically in a war zone, and that we need to get out. However, right when we get outside, we see something hovering about 20 feet away from us, beyond the edge of the tower. It's Fusion Blossom again.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," I end up thinking out loud. I mean, this is the THIRD time Fusion Blossom has tried to do something to us. She stares at us, then grins almost exactly like Fusion Buttercup did after she killed Aidan. I see energy starting to pulsate from all around her. Uh-oh. She prepares to zoom at us. I brace for impact and hear the zipping sound get really, really close... and yet nothing happens. I open my eyes and see Fusion Blossom directly in front of me. She's floating in mid-air, in a position where she's able to punch through my face. I see the closed fist, and it's not moving. Of course, I back up quickly and keep my Lightning Gun aimed at it. Then, Fusion Blossom starts melting away. ...What? Why is that happening? We haven't even shot it yet.

 **"NO!"** A very, VERY loud scream emanates from above us, so loud that it doesn't help even when covering our ears. I see a green trail of light hear a zipping sound pass by, both going downwards, and the ground shakes so violently that all of us fall onto the ground, and when I look up, the nearby buildings that hadn't collapsed at this point are now falling. Glass blows out everywhere and it flies in all directions. The glass from the windows in the house, any form of glass in the weapons we're using... they all shatter immediately. The glass lands on top of us, but thankfully none of it cuts me. At least not that I know of, because I'm so filled with adrenaline right now. I get up and look at the glass porthole that lets me look into my Lightning Gun's now empty chamber. Huh, it's shattered, but it hasn't broken. Maybe it has some sort of transparent insulator laminated within it. Once the shaking stops, I jump up and run over to the railing about 10 to 15 feet away. I look over the edge and see all of Tech Square, the Infected Zone and more. As for the ground on the part Dexlabs is on, it's cracking and splitting everywhere. This building is falling apart. This is not good. Not good at all.

"We need to hurry!" I say, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows that.

"Numbuh Two, we need you now!" Dexter says behind me. He must be talking to Numbuh One via his NanoCom.

"I'll be right there! Just hang on for a few more seconds!" Numbuh Two says. Dexter runs over to a control panel on our left. I turn that way, and see a part of the railing is a force field rather than a normal railing. I move to the front of the group and see Dexter pressing holographic buttons and after pressing a "CONFIRM" holobutton, the force-field shuts down. The ground shakes violently again, and I end up looking toward Galaxy Gardens on our left, and I see destruction. Buildings are collapsing, the ground is falling back and sinking, and it's absolute chaos down below. Operatives are panicking and running in every direction while fighting, and SCAMPERs are coming down to help evacuate, but nothing really is helping much. There are at least six buildings I can see on the far left that are still standing, but I stare at them in awe as they all collapse almost simultaneously, and a large dust cloud takes its place.

I turn right again and see a bridge of sorts extending out from where the force field used to be. It extends about 40 to 50 feet before stopping. At the same time, a SCAMPER comes up from Tech Square and is about to approach very close to us in order to pick us up, but it swerves out of the way when a Tech Wing flies by and nearly hits it. The SCAMPER steers to the end of the bridge, and the Tech Wing lands in front of us, blocking our path. It looks directly at me, and I immediately notice that this Tech Wing in particular's left eye is severely damaged, as if it was hit by the sharp end of something deadly. Then I realize: this is the Tech Wing that chased me around before I wrecked its eye with the Cyberus claw. I instinctively reach for the pocket I put it in. Yep, it's still there.

 ** _"So we meet again,"_** Fuse's voice comes from it. I know that message is for me. I get my Lightning Gun out, aim at it, and press the trigger. Wait, nothing comes out. I press the trigger again. Still nothing. I press it again, and still no electricity comes out. Oh, shoot. Is my gun empty? I quickly move the gun to see how much power it has. Yep, it has 0% energy. I look into that one porthole thing and see no electricity arcing back and forth.

 ** _"Oh... that's too bad,"_** the Tech Wing says before it curls its wings up and jumps toward us. I about to grab the Cyberus claw from my pocket and try to slice at it, but it opens its wings again, sending us flying. Thankfully, some of us hit the house. I get up, and I hear clinking noises getting farther and farther away. I think I've lost the Cyberus claw for good because I don't have it in my hands anymore. Evan gets his teddy bear gun and blasts a light blue bear at the Tech Wing, but the Tech Wing dodges it. The SCAMPER pulls up super fast and is narrowly hit, but thankfully it misses.

"Oh, no!" Evan says. That was the last teddy bear he had in his THUMPER. I quickly look around to the other operatives, and most of their weapons are gone as well. One operative has his THUMPER, and jumps up to fire, but the Tech Wing shrieks loudly at him. He covers his ears in pain, resulting in him dropping the weapon, and after a few seconds, he simply collapses. I look at the Tech Wing again, and Numbuh Two comes out of the SCAMPER behind it with a blaster. After landing in a few hits, the Tech Wing turns around and shrieks another blast at Numbuh Two, sending him back into the SCAMPER.

The Tech Wing then shrieks, then swoops down to attack us. Evan and I jump up and get away from the Tech Wing. It has to be targeting me, like how it did before. Several other operatives attempt to distract it from us by jumping on it or hitting it with their empty weapons. This Tech Wing is still fully intent on trying to kill me, and I don't think we have anything to take it down. Evan has no teddy bears in his THUMPER, I have no energy left in my Lightning Gun, and all the other guys lost their weapons. I have nothing else- Wait. I do. I have the Buttercup nano I recently got. But I'm certain Fuse knows I've defeated Fusion Buttercup, and I'm sure he knows all about Nanos. I'll have to summon my Nano when it's distracted. Numbuh Two and a few other operatives come out of the SCAMPER and start blasting the Tech Wing again. When the Tech Wing turns away to attack them, I activate my NanoCom and click the **"NANO SYSTEMS"** option. When I open the menu, I see something new on the holodisc on the left. The top of it is dimly glowing red, and a small hologram of the Buttercup nano is hovering above it. Yeah, I can use the Nano. I click the **"SUMMON"** text above the holographic Buttercup nano, and red energy shoots out of my NanoCom. Within the blink of an eye, the Buttercup nano appears. There are some slight traces of energy left as evidenced by some red light around her, but it disappears shortly after.

The Tech Wing looks at the Nano, then me. **_"Did you think I wouldn't know about your Nano?"_**

Yeah, I was right that he knew. The Tech Wing shrieks out again, hitting me directly with a wave of sound. I have to cover my ears, because the sound hurts. I'm starting to feel disoriented as I fall to my knees, ears still covered. I'm looking around in confusion, because I can't tell up from down. Thankfully, the shrieking stops, as something bursts into the Tech Wing, completely destroying its robotic head. What attacked the Tech Wing has a green trail behind it. But I know Buttercup's not here, so maybe it's my Buttercup nano. What's left of the Tech Wing is sent flying backward, then promptly falls onto the bridge, off the side of it and into the chaos below.

"Just... shut... up," the Buttercup nano says. I like how this Nano thinks. Maybe it's no wonder why, unlike Andrew, my favorite Powerpuff was Buttercup. Not only because she wears green, which is my favorite color, but because I share a lot of similar personality traits with her, like how we're both very competitive when we need to be. That made it all the more sad when Buttercup disappeared.

I stumble up to the bridge, look and see that Fusion Matter is even spewing out of the ground like a geyser now. Fires are starting to form inside Dexlabs, and I can hear the fire alarms that would be inside the building. The building is being broken apart by every Fusion Monster I can see, and for some reasons, lasers are coming through the walls and ceiling, slicing up a ton of things. I hear a massive explosion coming from the southwest now. I look in that direction and see a ton of smoke rising into the air and rapidly spreading everywhere. Wait, did Mojo's Volcano just erupt?! DID IT JUST ERUPT? THAT IS NOT GOOD! We all need to get out right now!

"Come on! Hurry!" Numbuh Two says, motioning for us to get to him. And just like that, we all begin to run toward the SCAMPER. Evan, Numbuh Five and a couple others get a head start before I run. Right as we start running, I hear creaking sounds getting louder and louder. I glance behind me, and I notice sparks coming from the place where the bridge connects with the tower. I also see claw marks in it. I think the Tech Wing scratched it up badly for just this type of situation. The moment I see the sparks and claw marks, I start running much, much faster than before. Evan jumps onto the SCAMPER, and then Numbuh Five. A couple more operatives do so as well. Dexter is a few feet behind me, and I'm about to reach the SCAMPER when I hear a loud, loud snap. I instinctively jump up, only feet from the SCAMPER, when I see the bridge fall downward. I'm just close enough to reach the doorway, and I launch myself inside. I fall onto the floor, turn around and back up until I reach the wall opposite of the door. It's still open, and the bridge is still hanging on to the top of the tower, but it's tilted down to make a slide of sorts into the hallway we encountered Fusion Dexter in. It's at this point I realize that I'm breathing really heavily, and for good reason. I... I was literally stories in the air with nothing below me for just a split-second before I barely made it into the SCAMPER.

"Mark, are you OK?" Numbuh Two says.

"I-I'm alright," I say. "Just a little shaken after that jump."

"That was so cool!" the Buttercup nano says, flying around excitedly. OK, I don't think I need the Nano out anymore. OK... how do I call it back? I go to my NanoCom, and go to **"NANO SYSTEMS"**. It shows the same three holodiscs, except now the one of the left is empty again. There's a new button below the discs: "RETURN NANO". I press that holobutton, and a light beam shines out of my NanoCom, hits the Nano and makes it glow bright red. That red energy is sucked into the NanoCom afterward, and the Buttercup nano appears as a hologram above the holodisc on the left. I then close **"NANO SYSTEMS"** again.

"Wait, where's Dexter?" Evan asks, before looking to me. I don't know how to respond. I don't know if he's here or not. Evan walks to the right of me, to see if he's in the SCAMPER. Apparently that's not the case, though, because Evan says, "Oh, shoot!" and runs back to the still open door into the SCAMPER. He looks out and then downward. I get up and run over as well. That's when I see Dexter's inside the hallway from before, looking up at us.

"Dexter! Don't worry! We'll get you out of there!" Evan says.

"No!" Dexter yells out, his voice in the distance. "Get out of here as fast as you can! Don't worry about me!"

Numbuh Two hurries over to the SCAMPER door and looks down too. "Wait, what? Do... do you really want to do this, Dexter?" he asks. "'Cause I really don't want to leave you behind."

"Don't worry about me! Just go!" Dexter yells again. Numbuh Two and Evan look at each other with looks of concern. They don't know what to do, and they know they don't want to leave Dexter behind. But Dexter wants them to go. They're caught between a rock and a hard place. Well, more accurately, a massive boulder coming toward them (representative of the Fusions and the pyroclastic cloud) and being forced to leave someone who's important behind (in this case, Dexter). However, Dexter wants to be left behind in order to keep me alive, as he says: "Get Mark out of here as fast as possible! He's the only hope for this planet now!"

Numbuh Two, Evan and Numbuh Five look at me, then at each other. Then they're distracted when the co-pilot in the cockpit says that the pyroclastic flow is approaching, and they need to leave right now. Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five look at each other again, then turn away from the door.

"Let's get outta here," Numbuh Two says, as the pilot that I believe took over for him starts to steer the SCAMPER away from Dexlabs and up toward the helicarrier. Right before Evan closes the door, I look down at Dexter, and can see that he is running toward the elevator that we took up to the house. I see him enter the elevator room, and the door shuts behind him. And I turn away, leaving this battle for good. I'm finally getting to a safe haven. Amanda, Lucas... Jade... Andrew... they'll finally see me again.


	7. Reunited

**_G - ∞_**

 _Remember me._

* * *

 ** _Mark - January 14, 2019 - 3:03 PM_**

I can feel the SCAMPER moving as I sit in one of the seats, holding my empty Lightning Gun and looking down. Now that I'm out of danger, everything's coming back to me. I can't stop thinking about Aidan being killed by Fusion Buttercup, and her giving me that creepy grin, her eyes piercing into my soul. Her eyes were not the same eyes as the one I've been seeing in my dreams. So I still don't know whose eyes they belong to, but I think they may belong to a Fusion. Fusion Buttercup's eyes had the same color and similar shape to the eyes in my dreams, but every time I see the latter, I feel an indescribable level of dread.

I eventually start looking back up when I start feeling motion sickness, because my current view does not show movement, but I feel it in the roaring of the engines and me tilting forward. The SCAMPER must be moving left. I turn to look out the window behind me, and I see the carrier getting closer and closer. I'm going to be up there soon. There are other SCAMPERs coming toward and arriving on the helicarrier. As we get high enough to see the deck of the helicarrier, nce they arrive and the people start leaving, some people tie the SCAMPERs down to the carrier. I don't see Amanda and Lucas yet.

The SCAMPER we're in starts to slow down as it descends onto the carrier and lands. The moment we stop moving, Evan and I get up and get ready to leave. I want to see my surviving friends. As the door opens, I can feel the air rush out, due to the air up here being thinner and of lower pressure than the air that was in the SCAMPER. The air in the SCAMPER doesn't get sucked out extremely fast like how it would on an airplane or in outer space, because from what I could tell from when I was on the ground, the helicarrier is only 4 to 5 thousand feet up and not over. Also, I get a weird feeling in my ears. That feeling where you change your altitude very quickly, and your ears feel odd, and you have to either yawn, chew gum or some other method in order to clear that issue up. However, that's the last thing on my mind right now.

As Evan and I leave the SCAMPER, we slip away from the group. Numbuh Five notices and asks, "Where are you going, Mark?"

Evan and I turn around and Evan says, "Mark needs to see his friends again. Do you need him somewhere?"

"Yes, we need him at the control room," Numbuh Five says back. "But it isn't too urgent, so just make sure to bring him to the control room after finding his friends."

"Copy that."

Evan and I turn back and start walking around the deck in search of our friends. I look around, and wow, this deck is huge. It's bigger than any other battleships or military carriers I've ever seen. Evan notices me looking around in awe, because he says:

"Y'know, if you think this is huge, you would have been amazed by our Gihugeacarrier. Ours was so huge it had a ton of buildings on it and a whole lot more. That is, until it was blown in half by... chocolate ice cream, of all things."

"...What?!" I ask after being silent for a moment. Did I hear that right? A giant carrier was blown in half by ice cream? I don't know how to process that without thinking Evan's insane. But I know he's not, which is even stranger!

"Yeah, things are weird in the KND."

We continue looking around the deck, with more SCAMPERs showing up and landing. Aside from the SCAMPERs, there are large wood and metal crates that are also tied or bolted down to the helicarrier. There are so many operatives around too, and with every operative moving around and making noise, I can barely make out anyone in this crowd. My eyes dart from operative to operative in order to try and make out anything I recognize about Amanda or Lucas. Some of the things I look for are brown or black hair, or if their eyes are purple or gray eyes. I know, not much to go on, but I can't go by clothes because they're probably wearing the armor all other operatives are wearing. Evan said they're up here, so they were probably fighting at some point, too.

My eyes catch something. I think I see a shade of purple on my right. I look there. Oh, never mind. One of the operatives is hauling this container of strange purple crystals out of a SCAMPER. OK, time to keep looking.

"Amanda! Lucas!" I hear Evan say, his voice gradually getting farther to my left. OK, they must be there. I turn left and see, about 25 feet away from Evan, are... Yeah, it's them. As I expected, both Amanda and Lucas are wearing KND armor. It's strange seeing Amanda in something other than purple, or Lucas without some article of clothing related to the Gangreen Gang. Amanda, like usual, has her hair in a ponytail hanging off on her left side. Lucas's hair is a bit more messed up, though, with strands going loose everywhere. There are a couple small bruises and marks on both of their faces. Speaking of which, I haven't seen the mark on my face yet. I hope it's not too bad.

Amanda and Lucas don't see me yet. They see Evan. "Evan!" Amanda says, before sighing in relief. Then she gets a bit concerned. "Wait, where's-" She looks past him, at me. Yep, she sees me now. Her eyes widen, she leans back and then stands up. She says something, but I don't hear her. I think she says my name. Lucas looks at her in confusion for a bit, then toward me. Then his eyes widen. Amanda squints her eyes, probably to make sure she's not hallucinating. Then she turns to Lucas, and he turns to her. They both look at me again, and run.

Amanda and Lucas sprint toward me, but Amanda gets a large head start because she started running at least a second before Lucas started. They don't let anything get in their way as they head in my direction. They can't believe I'm here, because the last time they saw me, I was in a time machine experiment that was going horribly wrong. And now after this big battle, I've returned to them. Amanda even pushes another operative out of the way to get to me faster, and once reaching me, she doesn't stop like Evan and Aidan did. She keeps going, and she surrounds me in her arms. Lucas catches up very soon after.

Both Amanda and Lucas immediately start pouring out questions. Some of the questions they ask are, "Are you OK?" and "What happened?".

"I'm... I'm OK, I guess," I say. I'm at least partially alright.

"Wait, where's Aidan, though?" Lucas asks. Oh, shoot. I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to this. I look to Evan for guidance on what to say, but he similarly doesn't know what to say. Maybe it'd be better to do what Evan and Aidan did when I asked them about Chris and John: I should say nothing, and let the silence speak for itself. Amanda looks at Evan, and then notices the crimson stains on his gloves. When she looks back to me, I can't say anything. I can tell she's started to figure out what happened, because her expression is now shifting from concern to sadness. She knows she's lost yet another friend.

"H-how?" Amanda asks. "What happened to..."

I can't answer. I don't want to answer. I can't tell Amanda that Aidan died the way he did. But she wants to know. But I can't lie to her! Ah... what do I do?

"We were in one of the groups assigned to rescue Dexter," Evan says. OK, good, he's going to explain it, because I don't know I could bring myself to do it anyway. Our SCAMPER crashed. We got to the DexHotel and found Dexter, but Fusion Buttercup ambushed us and... she killed Aidan."

I'm relieved that Evan didn't tell them flat-out that Aidan was punched through the chest by Fusion Buttercup. They don't need to know that gruesome detail. Besides, I think they'll figure it out anyway. I look to Lucas, and he's looking down. I can hear him saying, "Not again," under his breath. He looks up again and his eyes are gleaming. He then sucks the tears in again, and in the corner of my eye, Amanda wipes a tear away.

"I'm... I'm so sorry you had to see that," Amanda says. "I can't imagine what... what that would be like for you."

"I... I still can't believe you're... you're back," Lucas says to me. "We... we knew we would be seeing you again, but... I still can't believe it. A lot has happened while you were gone..."

"I know," I say. "You know, I actually almost didn't make it out. I was actually chased up a building by a Tech Wing and then Cyberusses! I would've been a meal if Ben and Numbuh Five hadn't found me and brought me to Tech Square."

"And then when Dexter got kidnapped, Aidan and I found him there. And we, um... told him about Chris and John."

"Speaking of which... what happened to them?" I ask.

"Oh, great," Lucas says, before walking away. Actually, I get that. I wouldn't want to be there if I were Lucas either. Lucas walks away a bit, at least 30 feet away. That also makes me realize that this place is rather noisy. There's the rocket fire of SCAMPERs landing, people moving things around, and other people talking. Yeah, he won't be able to hear us from here. I look to Evan and Amanda again.

"So, what happened?" I ask again. They then begin to relay the first story. Apparently it happened at our school during class.

* * *

 ** _Evan - September 8, 2016 - 12:59 PM_**

Right now, I'm in Humanities class, which in all honesty, I don't really like. Sometimes it's cool when the teacher plays vids, but the rest of the time, it'd be boring if a good amount of our group wasn't in here. Amanda, Lucas and John are here, which is pretty rare given that this school has a ton of students and many different classes. Aidan and Chris, on the other hand, are in other classes. Aidan's in Bio class and Chris's in Art class. Mark, he's... well, we don't know. Last thing we knew about his whereabouts, the time machine had warped into this weird dimension. Dexlabs had found a way to get in around two months ago, but they hadn't found anything but a piece of old paper that somehow is counting down the days. It's weird how that happened at almost exactly the same time that Andrew got a lot more... "energized" than before. That'll be weird for Mark when he finds out about it.

Anyway, after doing the Do Now and a small activity, the teacher says that on Friday, we're going to get this book that revolves about striving for individuality and other themes that match with what we're learning about in this quarter. We're supposed to read it over the next two weeks and then make a literary analysis of it by the 26th. John knew someone who had read the book, and he said that it was weird, and that it defied a bit of logic sometimes. I heard that at one point, a person feels really cold so they try to take a swim in the warm pool, but it turns out they're so cold they end up freezing the water to ice. And they're supposed to be a normal human too. It's not like it's a superhero that just gained ice powers and is learning to control them (although I'd totally read that). Well, I'm a bit interested anyway to at least see how weird it gets.

After the teacher announces that, we're given our bookmarks that have the main characters and a few of the themes. The teacher also says that if we really want to, we can start reading early. Now, I wish I could say that I'd do that AND read as much of the book as possible within the smallest amount of time so I could not only no longer worry about it, but I'd also be free of most Humanities homework for a while. But I know I'm not going to do that. Procrastination is a very powerful force. I know that Amanda will start reading early. Yep, and there she goes. She and some of the other students are getting out of their seats to get some of those books.

Of course, anyone who picks up the book doesn't read it immediately. They put the book away in their backpacks. As for now, I guess I'm just gonna wait for whatever the teacher's gonna say next. But I get distracted when somebody screams, "WHOA!", right before I hear something fall and crash loudly. The ground shakes as soon as the crash happens as well. Of course, every kid in the room gets up and moves to the windows, causing a ton of commotion. Even the teacher is interested this time, unlike some other occasions of something strange happening outside, like a battle between the Powerpuff Girls and another monster or villain. I manage to push my way through the crowd of students so I can see what's going on and...

Dude. It's one of those Terrafusers. Looks like it just landed, because there's a ton of dust around it, and it's completely crushed one of the cars. As the dust starts settling, I can notice the car's details, and it looks the car belongs to... Really? Of all the cars in the parking lot, it crushed Ms. Keane's car. And she's one of the nicest teachers in the school! The Terrafuser then begins to bury its tendrils into the ground and Fusion Spawns come out of it. They start bouncing in all directions, and I see one of them jump into a car. We watch as that same car proceeds to transform and mutate into a monster-car. It has jaws, legs, and even a spiky tail. It's like the car became part T-rex! Other spawns jump into the telephone poles, and transform into large, beast-like monsters with spikes on their backs.

"Guys! Look up!" I hear Amanda say. I do what he says, and I see Planet Fusion in the sky, and what I guess are a few more Terrafusers coming down from its direction. They're just specks in the distance right now, but they're very green specks. And it looks like they're heading toward us! Are they actually going to collide... OH GOD! THEY ARE!

 **"EVERYONE, RUN!"** I scream out. Looks like everyone agrees with me, because we're all rushing for the exit doors. There's one of each side of the room, going to the hallway. But so many people are trying to get through each door at once we're having trouble. Thankfully, Amanda, Lucas, John and I had a head start, and most of us are the first to get out the door. However, John gets separated from us by the crowd of people, and ends up a bit behind the rest of us. Once we're out the door, we hurry as fast as we can away from the door, but meteorites are fast, because less than a second after we're out the door, the wall explodes and its fragments fly after us. The explosion also knocks me right to the floor, and the crashing sound is so loud it causes a ringing in my ears. The heat strikes me the most in the back, as flames roar out behind us.

For a moment, I feel extremely numb, and I hear nothing else but a ringing noise and my rapid breathing. I look up slowly and I see students running for their lives. I see Amanda getting up, dust collecting on her purple hoodie. She sees me, rushes up to me and helps me up. Lucas then comes to us as well.

"Hold up. Where's John?" I ask. Amanda and Lucas look at me in confusion. They don't know either? I turn around, and immediately see them. John is lying on the floor about 10 feet behind us, with a gash in his head. Oh no! Was he hit by a piece of the wall or something? It looks like he's still conscious, but barely. He's looking around slowly.

 _"Guys..."_ John says slowly. _"Help."_

Of course, we rush over to John and help him up. As we do this, I look at the ruins of the classroom. It's been completely wrecked. Almost everything's been vaporized or burning. There's another one of those Terrafusers smack dab in the middle of the room, and it's starting to root itself into the floor. This hallway is filled with dust, and there's fire in a lot of points in the classroom. These set off the fire alarms, causing loud buzzes to echo through the hallways. The roof sprinklers also go off. OK, Spawns are probably going to leave that Terrafuser any moment now, so we better move!

"Come on, guys! Let's go!" I say. And we head up the hallway as fast as we can.

I hear a notification on my phone. I look at my phone screen and see the notification in my group chat. I set up a group chat between me and our group of friends a while back, and we chat on there most of the time when it's a group thing. We all set our texts in that certain chat to be different colors so we could tell who was what. Aidan has red, Amanda has purple, Mark would have green, and so on. We added Andrew after that... incident, and his texts have a sorta yellowish-green color (yellow and green are his favorite colors). In this case, the text I see is indigo, which shows it's from Chris.

 _"dude"_

 _"wth just happened"_

Then I see a text in red show up. That's Aidan:

 _"are you guys OK"_

 _"what was that crash"_

I respond as fast as I can, and my text pops up:

 ** _"it was a terrafuser"_**

 ** _"we're alright but john is hurt"_**

 ** _"find out where everyone's going & tell us"_**

Just as I text this, we make a right and head down the back hallway. We're on the 3rd floor right now, so we have to take a few turns before we can reach an emergency exit on the ground floor. The first thing we need to do is just head straight. We don't move too fast, of course, because John is badly hurt and apparently another bit of debris hurt his leg, so he's having trouble walking. On top of that, he's probably got burns too if he was that close to the explosion. Maybe the rest of us got some, too, because my back feels like it was just on fire. So, we have to move more slowly. As we do that, I see students running about, most of them having no idea what is going on.

Then we hear something none of us wanted to hear: I think it's another Terrafuser about to hit the school. And sure enough, an explosion happens above us, and we're knocked to the ground. The ceiling in front of us caves in, and dust rains on us. But the ceiling is not the only thing that gets messed up. Everything does for a while. By the time we get up again, I look up and see the ceiling and the roof above it have been ripped apart, showing the blue sky. We can see a really large Terrafuser on the roof, and its tendrils are digging into the school-

What in the world? A telephone pole was just thrown onto the roof. The wires have all been cut, of course, but what are they trying to- Oh, no! They're making more of those large, spiky-back monsters. We have to hurry away from this area. The hallways in this part of the school are rather big, so those monsters could fit in here, and I don't want to come across them. None of us do. So we run.

We're careful to avoid the debris on the floor that collapsed when the large Terrafuser hit the roof, and we just go. We just go. While we're hurrying, I keep hearing messages on my phone, but I've got no time to check yet. When we get to a staircase on the left, another Terrafuser flies through the ceiling and into the stairs, causing the entire stairway to break. OK, looks like we're not going that way. We go into the hallway opposite of the now broken stairway, and head down that.

Hold on. I hear someone coming up the stairs. OK, it sounds human. When I see his dark hair and then his gray eyes, I realize it's Chris. WAIT, WHY IS CHRIS HERE? WHY ISN'T HE WITH AIDAN?!

"Lucas! Guys! Are you OK?" Chris asks.

"Y-yeah," I say, but not too loudly. "John isn't very alright, though."

"Come on. I know a safe way out," Chris says. He turns around and faces toward the hallway on our right as he does so. The moment he looks that direction, he freezes. That's when I hear a noise. It sounds like something large is running toward us. Chris bolts for the stairway that he came from, but something massive appears on his right before he can reach it. It's that large monster with the spikes on its back. In the split-second I see it, I notice that the telephone poles are its legs, except they've been widened out and bent to act like real legs. It's at least as tall as the hallway, too. It head-butts Chris with the side of its head and sends him flying down the stairway and into the wall.

OH NO! CHRIS! WAIT... WHAT IF THE MONSTER SEES US! We're out in the open right now! WE NEED TO HIDE! Without thinking, we split up and hide behind lockers or inside a storage closet that must've been abandoned by a janitor when the Terrafusers struck. Lucas and I bolt behind the lockers on the left side, while Amanda and John run into the closet and stay quiet. Lucas tries to scream out Chris's name, but I cover his mouth. If he screams anything, we're done for. And we wait. We wait and we wait. As soon as I think I hear that monster walking away to the left, I peek out from behind the locker. OK, I don't see it. I sneak down the hallway alongside the lockers, and the others do the same behind me. Lucas is trying as hard as he can to be quiet. He's panicking about Chris. When we make it to the hallway between us and the stairway, we run through it as fast as we can, all at once. We run down the stairs and see Chris. He's lying on the floor-

...Oh god. Chris is... His head is just... It's... This is horrible. Amanda covers her mouth with her hands. She's pale as a ghost. We all are. I can hear myself breathing rapidly. No, no, no, no, no, no, no... no... Chris is... He's...

"CHRIS!" Lucas screams. "Chris, please... say something..."

I take two of my fingers and check for a pulse. Nothing. I try again for longer this time, to make sure I didn't miss anything. Still nothing. I hear something hit the wall. I get startled when I hear loud screaming. I turn around, and Lucas is leaning against the wall and sliding down it. He collapses to the floor and just stares into space. He then proceeds to let it all out. Tears and tears stream down his face, droplet after droplet hitting the floor. It's at this point the Powerpuffs show up. I hear them zipping throughout the school, probably taking out all the monsters they can. They must see us with their X-ray vision, because Blossom shows up in front of us, followed by a loud zipping sound and a ton of wind. She must get affected by... what Chris looks like now... because she looks shocked too. Then in a millisecond, we're outside. She must have zapped us out.

As soon as we realize we're outside, we find the nearest ambulance and hurry over to it. We get Chris to the paramedics even though we know it's futile, and we also get John in an ambulance too. He's pretty injured as well. Maybe all of us here should get checked to make sure, but John needs to go first. As for Lucas, he's inconsolable right now. You can see the tear drops from the front pathway where we were brought to where we are now. I don't even blame him. It's at this point I hear another text. I look to the phone... I see a bunch of texts from Aidan, from as recent as right now to a minute or two ago. The texts say:

 _"YO"_

 _"CHRIS JUST RAN INTO THE SCHOOL LOOKING FOR LUCAS"_

 _"YOU NEED TO FIND HIM AND GET OUT OF THERE"_

Then the ones that came just a few moments ago are:

 _"did you find chris"_

 _" & have you guys made it out of there?!"_

I look at that message for a few moments. I don't know what to say for this. I don't want to be the one to tell my friends that a close friend is dead! Uh... OK... I reluctantly start typing.

 ** _"yeah"_**

I keep trying to type some way to explain what just happened, but I keep deleting and then trying to re-type it. What the heck am I supposed to say? When Aidan messages me again, asking if we're OK, I simply say:

 ** _"chris didn't make it."_**

Aidan doesn't respond for a while. He's probably just as shocked as us. I wouldn't know what to say either if I was told via text that one of my friends was gone forever. When he finally does reply, we start sending quick, short texts to each other as fast as we can:

 _"where are you"_

 ** _"in front of school ambulance"_**

 _"which one"_

 ** _"straight across from front door"_**

Amanda, Lucas, John and I decide to all get ourselves checked by the medics, just in case. Turns out a few of us still got some first-degree burns from the heat of the explosion. John was the worst off, though. According to the doctors, John got a second-degree burn on his back, and he got some bad wounds on his head and legs from pieces of debris. But he'll survive. As for the rest of us, who still got some burns, we were advised to take cold baths often to prevent the burns from swelling, as well as use special burn treatment ointment after that to help heal our skin.

As we wait for Aidan, I look back to the school. It's been damaged a lot. I can see the Terrafuser on the roof, the hole in the classroom we were just in, and the Terrafuser in that parking lot. Fusion Spawns and those monsters frequently come out of the school and try to attack, but SACT agents that must have shown up not that long ago start pushing the monsters back as a flying Dexlabs vehicle also shows up. It deploys strange triangle-shaped devices that implant themselves into the ground. I think they're making a perimeter around the entire school campus. A bit later, they start beaming upward and creating a force field that completely surrounds the campus. Yeah, I've seen this before. When a ton of Terrafusers had come down and infected Goat's Junk Yard, I saw a video of these same devices forming the barrier around the infected area.

After five minutes, Aidan finally finds us, and when he does, he runs up to us as fast as he can. As soon as he reaches us, he starts saying a ton of stuff as fast as possible:

"I'm sorry. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't, he wouldn't listen to me. I grabbed him and he pushed me away. He ran inside. I couldn't stop him. I'm sorry..."

Aidan proceeds to slow down, before he says: "This...This is all my fault..."

"No... it's mine..." Lucas says. "It's because I was there that he ran in. He's dead because of me..."

"Lucas, you have nothing to fault yourself for," Amanda says. "He wanted to find you and make sure you were safe. And he saved us. If Chris wasn't there, that behemoth monster or whatever it's called would've certainly found and killed us."

"He should've lived, not me," Lucas says outright, with a lot of anger in his voice.

"Then he'd be in the exact same situation as you!"

Amanda and Lucas start arguing, with Lucas continually saying how it should've been him instead of Chris, and Amanda saying that Chris wouldn't want that either, and that he needs to calm down. Aidan and I try to intervene, but nothing helps. The argument escalates to the point where Bubbles shows up. She lands behind Lucas and tells us to please stop fighting. However, the argument is getting louder and louder. Suddenly, Lucas loses it. He yells, **"JUST SHUT UP!"** , turns around and tries to throw a punch, but Bubbles stops it with her super strength and speed. As soon as Lucas sees Bubbles' face, he visibly starts to stop getting as angry. Lucas then starts crying harder and hugs Bubbles. Bubbles comforts Lucas as much as she can.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

For the next few weeks after the attack on the school, nothing felt right. It felt like there was something missing from everything we did. Everything felt even more broken than after Project Future. What happened at Pokey Oaks Junior High broke Lucas the most out of all of us for very clear reasons. I can't imagine what it would be like for someone to lose their twin, because I hear twins, especially identical ones, share a very strong bond. Well, now I've been able to see first hand what happens when that bond breaks. For weeks, Lucas isolated himself, and when he came back, he was even more different. He hated the Fusions, and told us he'll do everything he can to hinder them. He then proceeded to show how much he was willing to go when he saw a Fusion Spawn in an alleyway, then ran after it and beat it up till his hands were burnt from the Fusion Matter. OK, he's serious about this. We'll help him as much as we can. All of us.

* * *

 ** _Evan - January 25, 2018 - 1:27 AM_**

I've been sitting at my computer for hours now. I actually have been binge-watching the Realms series to catch up on it before we watch the Season 3 finale this Saturday morning. I know our entire group is going to gather together and watch it, because it's apparently going to be big. I hear that in this, the Dark Matter invaders may finally reach Earth. Me, Amanda, Aidan, Lucas, John, Andrew, Jade, Andrew's neighbors and friends, we're all going to be at one of our places to see it. No Fusions will stop us from watching it.

I look at the clock and wow, I've stayed up a lot longer than I should have. I should really go to sleep soon. Well, maybe after one more episode. I'm only about 7 or 8 episodes away from the season finale. Right before I click that, I hear a notification sound. I look down and it's in our group chat. During this invasion, we've got a good amount of members added to group chat, some of which are Andrew's neighbors. They're rather interesting, since they're not exactly human. At all. Also, everyone in our group also decided to set sounds to their texts in the group chat, so we can tell who's texting just by the noises their messages make. The sound I hear is a guitar strum, so it's from Lucas. I guess I'll see what he's saying before I watch the next episode. I open the chat and he's saying:

 _"OMG"_

 _"GUYS"_

Then he gives out a link to a news article. I can't see much from the text link, but other than the website name and stuff, it says something about a Fusion attack on a home. I click it anyway to see what's happening. The headline says:

 ** _"THE LATEST: Suburban homes destroyed in Fusion raid, 5 killed"_**

OK, this is odd. Why would Lucas show me this- Oh, no. I just scrolled down to the picture. It's a picture of the house that was destroyed from across the street, with cop cars, fire trucks and ambulances everywhere. The entire block is illuminated red and blue by the combined light of all the vehicles there. There's even a SACT armored truck, and there are agents carrying containers of Fusion Matter out of the house and toward the truck. The house is surrounded with caution tape, and there are holes in several of the walls. However, the thing that shocks me the most about this picture is the house itself. It's John's house. Oh, no, no, no. No, no. My morbid curiosity gets the better of me and I start reading the article:

 _"TOWNSVILLE - 5 have been killed and many more wounded after a group of Fusion monsters attacked a house in Southern Pokey Oaks Wednesday night._

 _"The earliest reports of the raid came at 10:10 PM Wednesday night, when residents called the police claiming that they heard screaming and glass breaking, and when they went to see what was happening, there was a hole in the wall and Fusion Monsters that have been identified as Gravel Golems were storming into the building. However, before the police could arrive, the Powerpuff Girls showed up on the scene and destroyed the Gravel Golems that remained on-site at 10:12 PM, as the rest ran off. The ones that ran away reportedly attacked houses in their way, causing 2 more deaths and several more injuries._

 _There have been several casualties, ranging from 16 years old to 51. While most of the casualties in the raid involved injuries commonly associated with being attacked by Gravel Golems, the youngest casualty, Jonathan Ramone, had deep claw marks all over his body. His parents, who were also killed in the attack, had a combination of the two forms of wounds mentioned. The SACT has yet to identify what Fusion could have inflicted the claw marks._

 _A connection between past Fusion raids has yet to be discovered."_

So John's gone now too... I just stare at his name on the screen. _"Jonathan Ramone"_... _"deep claw marks"_... _"all_ _over his body"_... I end up reading those parts of the article over and over again, and all the while, I'm hearing multiple notifications going off on my phone. All of them must be in the group chat. A meow, a splash, a hopping sound, a firecracker, an electric zap, and more. Yeah, a lot of our friends have seen it too, and are responding. And I'm just sitting here, knowing that another friend is gone. Now I don't even want to watch the next episode. I don't know if I can after finding out something like this. That'd be disrespectful to John's memory. We might have to postpone the viewing of the Realms finale because I'm sure all of us won't be able to watch it much. All of us will have to stop using social media for a while because I know we'll get spoiled on the finale if we do. Once we're ready, at least, we'll watch it, but not for a while... I can't believe this... Not again... What are we going to tell Mark?

* * *

 ** _Mark - January 14, 2019 - 3:10 PM_**

"And that's basically what happened with Chris and John," Evan says.

Dang... That's what happened? That's... that's insane. I knew the stories were not going to be fun, but I'm even more depressed now. Chris died from a monster I barely know anything about except that they're made when those Fusion Spawns combine with telephone poles. And it's not even clear what happened to John. To be honest, I'm kinda glad I wasn't there to experience that, but still, what happened to Aidan was probably the worst out of all of them. And Amanda and Lucas didn't see that first-hand like Evan and I did. So it sorta evens out.

Lucas, who was still far away from us so that he didn't hear the story, comes back when he sees that we're not speaking.

"You guys are done with that, right?"

"Yeah," Evan says, before quickly changing the subject. "So, Mark... did you see anything weird when the time machine warped away?"

"Yeah, actually," I say back. "It was so trippy too."

"How trippy are we talking here?" Lucas asks.

"I'm talking 'ended up in this greenish-blue dimension where everything was swirling and stuff' trippy."

"What in the world? What else did you see?" Evan says.

"Now, I noticed weird things outside. First, there were two people and one of them was glowing, but then the time machine fell through the floor and turned over. Then the time machine resurfaced in the same place, but there were more people there. The glowing guy was there, but there were a few other not-glowing guys next to him, and across from them were a bunch of people. I couldn't make any of them out before I fell through the floor again. The next time I resurfaced, I saw someone running, with another person behind them, but much farther away. I remember seeing the person in behind stopping, then the person in front fell, and then the person falling behind went over to the person in front. Sorry if this is all confusing. It happened pretty fast."

"No, we're still following along," Evan says. "At least I am."

"Anyway, after a bit, the glowing person appeared next to them and lifted one of the people up, and then everything distorted. Like... a ravine split open and pushed the other person to the other side, closer to the white circle. I didn't see any more because the time machine fell in, and then it was just a tube of space I was falling through. There was green, blue, everything in between, and I think I saw another time machine, but it disappeared right after I noticed it. Then I just blacked out."

"Whoa... you saw all of that? So, what do you think the glowing guy was?"

"I honestly have no idea, but I think the glowing person inhabits it, because he showed up in every scenario I saw. Maybe it's the Guardian, for all we know. Maybe that place is his dimension."

"That's interesting. What about the other people? Who do you think they are?"

"I... I have no idea. I don't know how I could figure it out unless the Guardian were to tell or show me. Speaking of which, what else happened in the time I was gone, other than... the things you just told me about?"

"...Where do you want to start?" Lucas asks.

"Right after the Guardian visited Andrew. I want to know everything that you remember seeing and experiencing right after that moment."

Before Evan, Amanda or Lucas can speak, Evan's communicator starts ringing. Evan answers, and I see Numbuh Five's hologram.

"Numbuh Five thought you were going to bring down Mark," Numbuh Five says, still using the third person. I want to know why she does that, but not right now.

"Yes... I know. I'm gonna bring him down to you now," Evan says, looking annoyed and at the same time, trying to hide that. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

Evan then stops the call and says, "Alright, we need to go to the control room."

"Where is that?" I ask.

"Don't worry, we know where it is," Amanda says.

My friends then proceed to lead me from the helicarrier deck into a small hangar bay. Inside the hangar bay, I see even more SCAMPERs, COOLBUSes and one giant mosquito-looking vehicle. We walk past the vehicles into a doorway that leads to an elevator. I'm excited, because I've never been on a helicarrier, ever. I can add this to the list of weird, crazy and strange things that have happened today. After going up the elevator, we arrive at a large, dome-shaped room. There are control panels on all sides except for one side, which has a large, wide window that looks out over the deck. There are other windows on other sides, too, but they're smaller. People are in chairs, and it looks like they're manning turrets of some form of machinery.

"Mark," Numbuh Two says on my left. I turn and he's in this room, along with Numbuh Five. "Glad to see you found your friends."

"Yeah," I say. "So why did you want me here?"

"Greetings, Mark," a voice says behind me. "I am glad to see you've made it out of Tech Square."

That voice... it sounds like Computress. I turn around to try and confirm this, and yep, she's there. She looks no different from when I saw her last time, either. She's still blue, she's still got that holo-clipboard, and she still levitates on that small disc.

"Oh, hey," I say. "Yeah... we made it out. What do you need me for?"

"I told you that I would answer all the questions you had when you arrived here," Computress says. "I am ready to answer them now."

"Well, most of them were already answered by Numbuh Five and the squad she assembled during the search for the transmitter, but I do have a few questions I feel should be answered."

"And what questions are those?"

"Well, I want to know how this started, most of all."

"Very well. The war started not that long after the Project Future incident, about two months after. Mojo Jojo had discovered something new on the outskirts of the solar system. He led an army of his Monkey Minions into space to try and conquer this "new planet", but as you have likely guessed, that "new planet" was Planet Fusion itself. It was sending Terrafusers to every celestial body in the solar system, likely to investigate them for what they were worth, and if they had intelligent life on that planet. Once it found out about our planet, it sent down several Terrafusers to different locations on Earth. Most of them happened to land in suburban areas, one of which was actually not far from Sector Five-"

 **"IT'S SECTOR V!"** almost everyone in the room who heard Computress says at once. A few seconds later, a series of beeps suddenly happen on our left.

"Commander, we're getting a transmission!" a voice says on my left as well. I turn, and an operative is looking over a device that's projecting a message. It looks like that device is the transmitter, too. It has the same shape, color and everything.

"Who's it from?" Numbuh Five asks.

"It's... it's from Dexter," the operative says. Dexter? He's still trapped in Dexlabs! Is he OK?

"Well, play it, then!"

The operative presses a button, and a hologram of Dexter appears above the transmitter. Dexter then proceeds to speak:

 _"... This is Dexter. ...This is the last transmission you will receive from me... Despite our best efforts, Downtown Townsville has been lost to the Fusions. And while the eruption from Mojo's volcano meant that most of the Fusion forces there were eliminated, it will still be claimed by the infection in a matter of weeks. And unfortunately, the lives of some of our best heroes have been claimed as well. Blossom... Bubbles... Ben... But they're a few among the many, many operatives and soldiers that lost their lives as well."_

My god... Bubbles and Blossom are gone? And Ben too? What happened?

"What happened to them?" I ask, but Dexter doesn't respond in any way. This must be a one-way transmission or something.

 _"However, I want to make this clear: You must not lose hope. This war may seem futile now, but believe me: This war is not over yet, not by a long shot! And how is that the case, you ask? Well, during today we discovered something. The time machine I had made a few years ago, the machine I believe would have been lost, returned today. And with that time machine came someone: Mark Emeron. You almost certainly remember him from the Project Future mishap. Now that he's arrived, we can send him back without causing any time paradoxes, which is what would happen if we were to send anyone else back. Not only that, but he has proven to me and fellow operatives first-hand that he is willing to help fight against the Fusions. It is imperative that he survives, as he is the greatest chance we have against the Fusions._

 _Now, in order to send Mark back, you'll have to do something that I usually would not like happening under normal circumstances. You... you will have to work with Mandark. He's the only one I know who knows almost as much about technology as I do, and you will need him in order to understand the complex quantum calculations and more. I'll let him take the glory in this timeline. Between him and Numbuh Two, one of the best technical operatives I've seen in the Kids Next Door, I am certain that you will be able to rebuild my time capsule and send Mark back to the past._

 _Don't try to come back for me, no matter what. I will be fine. As for you, you need to get back to Sector V and to safety as soon as you can. I wish the best of luck to all of you. Dexter out."_

The hologram then fades out here, and we just stand there in silence for a moment. So many people with names to them... Blossom, Ben, Bubbles... and Aidan... they're all gone. And now I'm apparently the biggest hope for Earth now. My thoughts are interrupted when I hear someone running fast into the room. I hear panting, too. Whoever is running in must have run a lot to get here.

"Commander!" the operative says. I turn around. The operative's got hazel eyes and brown hair.

"Yes, Numbuh 501?" Numbuh 5 says.

"Commander! ... We tried as hard as we could, but... the blast... the blast had done too much internal damage... we were unable to save him. ...I'm sorry."

Who? Numbuh One? Dang... that blast from Fusion Dexter's weapon must have done something really bad to him. Numbuh Five turns back to the transmitter and looks down. Then within a millisecond, she slams her hands down, causing a loud bang that startles all of us.

"...Broadcast Dexter's message to all KND operatives here, in Sector V... in any of the bases," Numbuh Five says, but in a much less friendlier tone. I am actually a bit scared right now, but I don't know if I can leave yet. I look to Computress with concern, and she says:

"You are allowed to leave now, Mark. We can catch you up at a better time."

Yeah, I want to leave. I need to leave. I don't want to be here right now. It's awkward and kinda scary. And Evan, Amanda, Lucas and I all walk out at the same time into the elevator down to the hangar again. After that, we run all the way back out to the deck. Once we get back out, I get a transmission on my NanoCom, and when it starts, it's the same message that Dexter had given us. We listen to it a second time around as commotion happens around us. Interestingly, when the transmission starts for everyone, everyone stops doing what they're doing to listen. And when the transmission ends, everyone starts talking about me. Well, it seems most of them don't realize that Dexter's talking about somebody near them, so that's good. I wouldn't want to be stared at by everyone on the helicarrier. If they did, I would probably just want to leave.

"Wait, does Buttercup know if..." Lucas starts saying, but stops partway through. I know what he's talking about.

"It's very, very likely," I say back. "She was probably the first to know."

"Do you think she'll be OK?" Amanda asks.

"No. Nobody would after losing their family."

 **"We are now approaching Sector V,"** Computress's voice rings out loud over speakers on the helicarrier. They'd be much louder in the hangar, with its metallic walls and large size. Numbuh Five mentioned Sector V when we went back to the time machine before it got destroyed. Guess I'll soon see what she was talking about.

"Oh, that's right!" Amanda says. "We should probably tell you more about the Kids Next Door and what it actually is! So, the Kids Next Door is essentially a secret organization run purely by kids, which you think wouldn't end well, but it's actually one of the most organized militia out there! We protect the world not only from evil adults who might try to do something bad, but we protect the world from finding out about us, because believe me, if they knew kids working together could do this kind of stuff, they'd be using us so much for stuff we wouldn't actually have a childhood."

My friends proceed to explain more about the Kids Next Door, such as what the bases are (i.e. "The Treehouse", "Moon Base", "Arctic Base", etc.) and the processes of decommissioning and recommissioning operatives. It's all very interesting, but it's odd how everything they're talking about still feels familiar. But I clearly never remember going to the moon. And I thought that the decommissioning process supposedly "erased" my memories. Well, maybe they didn't erase them. Maybe my memories of the KND are just buried deep within my mind, waiting to be unlocked again. I'm told that when I get recommissioned, all my memories will be back for me, and I'll remember everything. I guess that's why they're not really explaining it too much, because I'll know it again when my memories return.

After a bit more of them telling me about the KND, Numbuh Two leaves the elevator and heads over to us. He tells us that we're getting ready to go to the Treehouse right now. Oh, so we're actually about to visit one of their bases. This is gonna be exciting!

"Where's Numbuh Five?" Lucas asks.

"She's... venting," Numbuh Two says. "She's not going to be coming down with us. We're going to bring Mark to the Treehouse first for recommissioning."

"We're coming with him," Evan says, before facing me. "We want to be there with you when your memories come back."

"I figured you'd do that," Numbuh Two says. We head over to a part of the hangar with SCAMPERs lined along the wall. There's a large label on the wall saying, **"Use at Any Time"**. On another side, there are different types of vehicles, with white paint painted on the wall saying, **"SOOPER RESERVED"**. Yeah, this definitely feels like something kids would do, but that misspell is triggering me. I ignore it and we go into the SCAMPER. After a bit, the SCAMPER takes off and leaves the hangar, flying forward. Once the helicarrier is no longer under us, we fly downward. Once we stop going downward and I can see the ground, I look out the window on my side and see...

... What the heck? OK, I knew I was going to see a huge treehouse, but... this treehouse is floating. I mean, the ground the treehouse is on is floating high above the rest, and the floating ground is being held by chains! Not only that, but I can see a large ship, and even an AIRPLANE being held up by the ridiculously thick branches. I swear, each branch on here is larger than the base of a giant tree's trunk. Did someone hit this tree with a Grow-Ray or something? This is just weird. Also, at the very top, I can see letters on one of the large wooden rooms saying "KND", and there's a large satellite on top. And once again, that unknown feeling of familiarity hits me.

The SCAMPER I'm in circles the Treehouse a few times before it's given permission to land in the hangar now. As we approach the hangar a fifth time, it turns into the hangar and lands. When we land, we wait until the SCAMPER comes to a complete stop, just like we do on theme park rides or on the Slider bus. Once it stops, we get up and leave. I look around the hangar to see as much as I can. I never imagined that kids could make all of this. I see operatives moving about from place to place. There are some wearing welding masks and fixing or working on things. There are tubes coming out of the walls, and operatives are either being sucked in or out of them. They must be transportation tubes.

"Mark?" A voice says on my left. That voice! It sounds like Andrew! I turn to the left and yep, there he is. I can recognize him not only by his still scraggly black hair and bright emerald eyes, but Jade is with him as well. Strangely, Jade isn't green now. She's a sort of greenish-blue and much shinier than before. They both are looking at me with a similar look of disbelief like Evan, Aidan, Amanda and Lucas looked at me, but it seems like they aren't as surprised. I see Andrew has a NanoCom, too, so he must have heard the transmission from Dexter. He must have been so happy when he heard I was back, and that I was alive.

When Andrew sees me, he stands there in shock for a moment, and looks at me for a second or two to make sure it's actually me. When he figures it out, his face shifts from hope to absolute joy within a microsecond. He runs toward me, and he's so much faster now! I've never seen anyone run this fast, ever! I swear, there could be a trail of lightning around him and it would make sense! Jade is flying toward me as well. Within moments, they reach me, and when Andrew touches me, I get shocked. By that, I mean that feeling when you have static electricity in your body and you touch metal. That's what I feel as Andrew knocks me over. Before all this, Andrew could knock me back a fair amount, but to straight-up knock me down is something new! When we fall down, Andrew, Jade and I hug each other tighter than I think we ever have in our lives. We're so happy to see each other again... after so long...

"Hey, Mark," a voice says from my right. I've never heard that voice before. I look to where the voice came from and... it's a cat. The voice came from a cat. But this is not a normal cat. He's not even shaped like a cat like Jade is. This cat is blue, standing on two legs, looks way different in anatomy, and has this weird cartoonish look about him. He's wearing a tan sweater with a brown collar and cuffs, and gray pants. Who is this? How does he know Andrew? Regardless, the cat says:

"Andrew's told me a lot about you... My name's Gumball..."


	8. I Remember

**_G - ∞_**

 _Everything is the way it is for a reason._

* * *

 ** _Andrew - May 29, 2016 - 9:58 AM_**

I'm staring at my computer's clock, which is what I've been doing for 10 minutes now. The time's only two minutes from when Evan should arrive. A thing about Evan is that he is never super early or late, he comes right on time if there is a time for him to be somewhere at. But Mark has told me how Evan arrives to class a few minutes early so that he isn't in a rush. No matter what, though, I'm excited to see what is going to happen. What is this "club"? Where will I be going? Why would Mark's guardian want me to join it, as he told me to ask Evan about it? Does it have any connection with Mark?

It's 9:59 now. As the seconds count down, I wonder what this club is. If it were any normal club, I'd have told my parents right away. But the way Evan talked about the club made it seem like this club needed to be a secret. But why? I guess I'll find out when he arrives... 30 seconds left. The excitement is building up. Evan's going to knock on the door any moment now. And when he does, well... he said he'd bring me to the secret club. Whatever it is, it must be safe because Evan wouldn't do something like bringing me to a dangerous club. And the Guardian wants me to go, so how bad could it be?

"What are you doing, Andrew?" Mom asks, making me jump a bit. I look to my right and see Mom is standing in the doorway, confused. I've been nearly silent for the last 20 minutes, just in case Evan comes early.

"I'm waiting for Evan," I simply say. I don't want to make things too complicated by coming up with a huge, complicated reason for him showing up.

"But Evan never contacted us or you," Mom says. She leaves the doorway, and suddenly my computer screen goes dark. Did my computer just turn off? I move around the mouse, and there's no pointy arrow on the screen. But my computer's plugged in, isn't it? I lean over to check, and yeah, it's plugged in. So what's going on? That's when I hear a loud beep, then another soon after. The beeps continue at the same rate. I look back up at the screen and see a white rectangle on the left side. The rectangle moves right as words appear behind it, as if they're being typed. The words say:

 _"are u in?"_

What is this? Is this from the club? Maybe Evan is sending this. I honestly don't know what this is! I try to type in something, and nothing happens. OK... uh... do I speak to it?

"Hello... um, are you the club my friend was telling me about?"

It immediately starts typing something: _"yes. now are u in?"_

"Uh... yes? Do you need me to do anything right now?"

 _"answer the door"_

Not even five seconds after that sentence ends and my computer screen reverts to normal, I hear knocking on my door. Evan's here. I jump up from my chair and run to the front door. I end up running so fast that I beat Dad to opening it, and he's more than halfway between my room and the front door. I open it to find Evan standing there. He's wearing a blue T-shirt, blue jeans and orange shoes. He looks down at me and smiles.

"Hey, dude," Evan says.

"Oh... Hello, Evan!" Mom says. She then looks to me. "How did you know he'd be here, Andrew? Was that what you were talking with him about? What were you guys talking about, anyway?"

Uh-oh. What do I say to Mom? I can't tell them about the "club" because Evan said it's secret. But... I can't lie to my parents like this! I don't know what to do!

"I, I... I, uh..." I stutter, before I look up at Evan. He nods at me. He gets that I'm confused. What's he going to do? Evan kneels down so his eyes are at my level, puts his backpack down and opens one of the zippers. He takes out what looks like a gas mask that goes around my whole head and hands it to me.

"Put this on," Evan says, before taking another one out of his backpack and putting it on him as well. I do what Evan says and put the mask around the face.

"Uh, Evan, what are you doing?" Dad asks. He's wondering about the mask. So am I. Why did Evan give me this? What's he going to do?

"It doesn't matter. You won't remember it anyway," Evan says, before he looks into the corner of the room near the door and nods. At that exact moment, the windows start darkening, and I hear something getting pumped into the room from the vents. What the heck is going on? It must be getting pumped in really quickly, because I hear a beeping going on near Evan that's getting faster and faster. I close my eyes.

"Evan, what is going on?" Dad asks. He's more suspicious of Evan now. Evan doesn't respond. I hold the gas mask tightly to my face because I have no clue what else to do and I don't want to breathe in this. It must be colorless, because I don't see any trace of it. I don't breathe, and when I do, I breathe as little as possible, even if I'm probably safe. After I open them 15 seconds later, when the standing the same way as they were before the smoke showed up. Not moving.

"What did you do to them?" I yell through my mask.

"Don't worry, Andrew," Evan says. "They're perfectly fine. They're just been frozen in time. The effect should wear off in a bit more than 24 hours, and they won't remember the few minutes prior to being frozen, like me visiting you, the gas masks, the smoke, and everything else. I'm going to give them fake memories right now, so they won't have an obvious day-long gap in their memory."

Evan takes out two strange-looking dark grey headsets that surround the whole head, like a motorcycle helmet. I don't even know whether I should ask what those things are or not. Evan just keeps getting a bunch of things I've never heard of. He puts the helmets on Mom and Dad's heads, and a humming sound comes from them soon after that. Evan looks at them for a few seconds, takes out another thing that looks like a Geiger counter (Mark had one in his room and told me about it), and points it all around the room.

"We're good," Evan says, before taking off his gas mask. I don't, though. Evan notices this, and says to me, "The gas can't hurt you now."

I take the mask off of me, my face no longer feeling squeezed. Having it around my face like that was starting to hurt a bit. I look at Mom and Dad, completely stiff, looking surprised after Evan pulled out the mask, with Dad acting much more concerned. They don't even blink. What is that helmet putting into their heads, if what Evan says is to be correct? Another beep comes from the helmets, and Evan takes them off their heads.

"OK, the fake memories are there. Now come on," Evan says. "We don't have much time." He starts walking toward Mark's room. I then follow Evan down the hallway.

"Wait, where are you going?" I ask as I run after him.

"Remember that one corner in Mark's room that used to have letter blocks scattered everywhere?" Evan asks me.

"Slightly," I say. "But it's no longer with lettered blocks. It has other stuff there now."

"But that doesn't mean we still can't use them." Evan opens the doors to one of our closets at the far end of the hall, but stops and looks at me. "Uh... you didn't throw away the letter blocks, right?"

"Um, I don't think we did." Why is he asking so many questions?

"OK, good." Evan digs through the closet for a minute before he says, "Ah, there they are!" to show he found the blocks. He comes out with a large green, plastic bucket of wooden blocks with letters on them. Every block has a letter on each of its six sides, and there are different color combos. Some of the sides would be red with a pink letter, green with an orange letter, blue with a red letter, or white with black. I've never really counted how many types of color combos there are.

Evan carries the bucket to the door to Mark's room and opens the door. He first carries the bucket into the room before he goes to the small bookshelf in the corner of the room on the other side from Mark's bed. He picks up the shelf with all his might and carries it to another part of the room. Huh. Behind the shelf are three square holes in the wall, extremely close to each other. At the back of the holes are... power outlets. The plugs that go to Mark's computer are in some of them. Evan kneels down, takes out any cords that are in those three sockets, and starts digging through the bucket of blocks.

"Oh, found one," he says after a few seconds. He picks up one of the lettered blocks and goes to the slot on the left. In the slot he places a block, the side facing outward being red with the bright yellow "K" on it. He starts digging through the bucket again, throwing any blocks he doesn't want behind him into a large pile in front of Mark's desk. Some of the blocks hit the chair and bounce of it. After a minute or so, Evan places another block in the slot on the right. The side facing out this time is red with a bright yellow "D". I'm noticing a trend here where the side facing out is red with a yellow letter. I head over to Evan, who is still digging through the bucket for another letter. I start taking out blocks as well, and after a short while, I notice the bright yellow letter "N" with red behind it.

"What letter are you looking for?" I ask.

"N," Evan says. I reach where I saw the yellow "N" and dig through the blocks for it. After a few seconds, I find the block, take it out and hand it to Evan. He smiles, says, "Thanks," and places the block in the middle slot. The blocks say "KND". What does it mean? Is it the name of the club? Only a few seconds after Evan places the block in the slot, the blocks pop out, and the part of the wall where the slots were begins to slide backward, then slowly to the left, revealing a dark room. Lights in the room start to flicker on, showing that in the middle of the room, there's a tall glass cylinder wide enough to fit several people. There's an opening where people can walk in. What do I do now? I look to Evan.

"Come on," he says as he walks into the glass tube. I still don't know what to say. This was in my family's apartment the entire time, just behind a power outlet? As I go to the tube, I can see spider webs in some of the room's corners. I enter the tube, and it closes behind Evan and I. I hear a sound of winding up, and a few seconds later, we go downward. Down, down, down, this is an elevator that keeps going down. Where are we going, and how did I never come across this passage?

"I... don't remember this ever being here," I say. I no longer see metal around us but stone instead.

"That's because you were never meant to know what this is. The moment Mark moved into the DexHotel around three years ago, we came and made a passage for Mark so he easily access the bases, because he was still a member of the Kids Next Door at the time. You and your parents don't remember the construction of this passage because we used similar protocols to the ones I used for your parents, except we did this to the entire building by pumping that memory-erasing gas into the ventilation system and giving them all false memories. When Mark... left the KND, the passage was disguised as a power socket that actually worked properly, so nobody would ever think twice about it, but kept the actual passage around in case you would join."

"Kids Next Door?" I ask. "That's the name of the club?"

"It's actually not a club, but more of a secret organization of children that protects the world from evil adults," Evan says. "We're nowhere and yet everywhere. Hiding in plain sight. We have bases in the Arctic, in the air, in a giant tree, even on the Moon and beyond! You'll love being a part of this."

If my face were to be represented in a cartoon right now, the eyes would be huge and the pupils would nearly take up all space. I am smiling like a crazy person. Evan's saying he is part of a secret hidden organization run by kids that is all over the solar system? I've always wanted to go to space, and since Evan has shown he isn't lying about this, I can't wait to be in the Kids Next Door.

* * *

 ** _Mark - January 14, 2019 - 3:32 PM_**

"My name's Gumball," the cat says. Gumball? That's... a very interesting name. So many weird things are happening at once. I didn't even expect this to happen, and I had expected a LOT to happen since I showed up here.

"Hi," I say. I wonder how he knows Andrew. Oh, yeah, speaking of Andrew, I've just started to notice that he's hugging me a bit too tight, to the point where I can't get up and I'm starting to have trouble breathing.

"Hey, um... Andrew, could you, uh, let me get up, please?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Sorry," Andrew says, chuckling. He gets off of me so that I can get up off the wooden floor. Andrew's shaking with excitement right now, so much so that I can't even focus on his face. He's moving that fast. I've never seen Andrew be this excited before. He then hugs me again, but I don't get shocked this time. I look to him, and his face. I just noticed the faded scar on the right side of his face. It looks like it happened many months before I showed up. I wonder what happened. As for Jade, I still am wondering why she's changed color.

Wait. I think I get it. Jade is usually green, and given every Fusion Monster I've seen has green in it, I wouldn't be surprised if some people would accidentally think Jade was a Fusion at first glance. So, to not be confused for a Fusion cat, Jade shifted to a form halfway between her normal form and her defensive form. Yeah, Jade has a defensive form. If she feels threatened or if she wants to, she'll transform into a form made of pure crystals, and she's basically indestructible in that form.

Everyone is smiling now. Andrew, Evan, Amanda, Lucas, Jade, Gumball, me, Numbuh Two... I wish we could be smiling like this forever, but Andrew asks the question I knew and feared he was going to ask.

"Where's Aidan?" Andrew asks. Oh, no. It was difficult to think of saying how Aidan died to my friends, but telling Andrew something like this is something far worse. I don't want to be the one to do this! To be fair, Evan, Amanda and Lucas don't want to, either. We all don't know what to do, so we do the only thing we can do: say nothing at all and let the silence speak for itself. After a few seconds of silence, Andrew seems to get it. He reacts not with tears or screams, but... with barely anything at all.

"Oh..." Andrew says. He's acting like he's already experienced this before, such as when Chris and John died. But he's acting like he ultimately is accepting that this could always happen. It's as if he lost something very important... wait... WHERE ARE MOM AND DAD?

"Where are... Where are Mom and Dad, Andrew?"

I turn to Evan, Amanda and Lucas, and they all have this apprehensive look on their faces. Oh no... No... no, they're dead as well, aren't they? Not them too... No... NO! My fists clench instinctively. I feel even more hatred than when Aidan died. I scream and start punching the SCAMPER several times, until my hands hurt. I stand there in silence for a moment, leaning against the same SCAMPER I had been punching. I left some small dents in it, and my knuckles are hurting too. This is pretty obvious, but I absolutely **HATE** today.

"What happened?" I ask.

"When... when the Fusions attacked Tech Square, the KND evacuated everyone. We... We were leaving, and as we were heading for Tech Square, a Cyberus came out of nowhere. It ran for Dad and... it... it killed him."

"W-what about Mom?"

"She was killed months before then. It... A Fusion of... I... I really don't want to talk about it."

"It's... It's OK, I won't force you to." If it's as bad as Andrew says it is, maybe it's better if I don't know. The only problem will be the uncertainty that will build up in my mind. But if Andrew doesn't want to talk about it right now, I'm fine with that. But I can't believe my parents are dead too. There have been so many deaths I have seen and heard of. Dad, Mom, Aidan, Chris, John. So many are gone because of these Fusions. These stupid Fusions... If I have the chance, I am going to destroy absolutely every Fusion I can get my hands on or in my Lightning Gun's crosshairs.

"Mark?" Andrew says. "What is that? That looks cool."

Andrew's changing the subject. I understand; he doesn't want us to be stuck in this endless cycle of negativity, especially not me after we've just got back together. I look to Andrew and both he and Gumball are looking curiously at something on the ground. I look to where they're looking and it's my Lightning Gun. I must have dropped it when Andrew and Jade knocked me over.

"Oh, this?" I ask as I pick it up. "It's called a Lightning Gun. Well, I call it that, at least."

"Wow! Who gave it to you?" Andrew asks.

"Numbuh Five did," I say. Andrew starts beaming when he says this, as if it's a major thing to get something from Numbuh Five. Well, Numbuh Five had told me before that she was the second-in-command of Sector V. "She said that it was a prototype, but... it's worked really well for the time I've used it. Do you want to hold it? It's safe, because there's no lightning in it anymore. I used it all up at Tech Square."

Andrew is really excited as I give him the Lightning Gun. He proceeds to look at every part of it that there is. He examines every nook and cranny, and all the stuff on it. He looks at the power meter, the dials, the thing you look through to see all the energy inside.

Now, Andrew hands me back my Lightning Gun. As I put it back where it was before, I notice something strange. I look to the power icon and ... what the heck? It's at 100% power now! But it was at 0% when I gave it to him! What the heck happened? Maybe it's an error. I don't know. I look into that port that allows me to see the energy within, and... Wow, it's absolutely full of energy. It's bright, and it's swirling and arcing and moving everywhere! How did... I have no idea. Did Andrew do that? But if so, how could he have gotten the ability to... Something tells me the Guardian might have something to do with this _._

"Andrew, how in the world did you do that?" I ask. He turns around in confusion for a moment, and I show him the full power icon.

"Oh, right! I forgot to show you!" Andrew says. "Watch this!"

Andrew then puts his hands really close together, but not to where they're touching. Then I notice something very odd. I think I see electricity starting to show up in between them. The electricity bolts from one hand to the other, more and more frequently until it becomes a ball of energy. Andrew then launches it out as a beam, out of the hangar and into the sky. OK... what in the world? What... This day has got 800% even weirder. I'm thrown into an alien invasion, I've lost my parents and several of my friends, and now Andrew has powers? What next? Does Andrew have more non-human friends?

"That is very..." I say, but I don't know how to end the sentence.

"I know! It's so cool!" Andrew says. "I got them not that long after you left, on my birthday, no less! Why exactly it happened I have no idea yet, but I'm not complaining!"

I'm not gonna lie: I'm a little envious of Andrew having powers. They look really cool, and I'm wondering exactly what his powers are. I want to know now, but Numbuh Two's been waiting long enough for me to be "recommissioned". I'm still curious, though. Actually, I'm more like, **"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HIS POWERS ARE AND WHY HE HAS THEM"**! But I can wait a bit, at least until after I'm recommissioned.

"You should show me more of that," I say, which causes Andrew to smile wider than I think I've ever seen before, and sparks fly off of him for a moment. OK, now I want to get this recommissioning thing over with just so I can find out more about what he can do.

"Alright, I'm ready to go to recommissioning," I say to Numbuh Two.

"Good," Numbuh Two says, still smiling about the little conversation we've had about Andrew's new powers, which still weirds me out a bit, but it's still cool. "Follow us."

Numbuh Two then leads us through the Treehouse. We go through hallways, across thick branch walkways and even across platforms. Wandering through all of this is so weird, and I pay close attention to everything I see while going through. It's all so cool to me right now, but when I actually remember it again, I'll probably just go, "Well, I've seen this all before," and it won't be as breathtaking. So, I'll remain in awe for as long as possible right now.

While we're on the way there, Evan says how I wasn't the first to be decommissioned. Over the course of a year, we had our friends getting decommissioned, one by one (or two in the case of Lucas and Chris). First it was Aidan, which makes sense, because he's the oldest of our group. Evan would've come next, but he apparently had joined the "Teen Operative Group", which means he didn't get decommissioned. But Lucas and Chris's decommissions weren't long after. With every decommission of those in our friend group, it became increasingly uncomfortable for those of us who were still in the KND. And finally came my own time to leave.

I also ask Gumball how he met Andrew. Gumball and Andrew tell me how they met around a year after I had gone through the time machine, which Andrew had told Gumball about. Andrew and Jade became really good friends with Gumball and his family, and Gumball actually became a part of Evan's group, which Andrew had also become a part of. From what Andrew tells me, Gumball came from a place called Elmore. I think I've heard of that town. I also know how all laws of everything get strange in that part of the world. Andrew also says how Gumball's family was really cool as well, and that he would love to introduce me to them. But what worries me is when Gumball says, "Well, who's left of my family, anyway." He's probably had some bad experiences too.

We go deep into the center of the Treehouse, and we come across a large vault labeled **"KND PRIMARY VAULT" - "AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY"**. Numbuh Two uses some sort of special key to unlock this vault, and in it is a bunch of stuff. The vault is well lit, and there's lots of things on shelves and in crates. I wonder what's in all of these, but now is not the time. We walk past shelves and more creates until Numbuh Two stops near a smaller box on the shelf. The box is labeled **"RECOM MODULE"**. Numbuh Two then opens up the box and takes something out. It looks like a old wind-up music box. It's really old- many decades old, at the earliest. If you saw this and didn't know anything of the KND, you'd think it was just a normal music box. But given what I've seen of the KND so far, I'm certain it does more than just play music.

"What is that?" I ask.

"This is a Recommissioning Module," Numbuh Two says. "It's able to restore any memories involving the KND if the person it's being used on has been decommissioned. We were able to repair it after it was destroyed five years ago, and when the Fusion invasion began, we used this to bring back many former KND operatives that we thought could be helpful to our cause."

"Don't worry, it's not that painful," Amanda says.

"OK, good to know," I say. Numbuh Two then aims the device at me. "So are you ready?"

"...Yeah, I'm ready," I say, standing prepared for whatever this thing is going to do. OK... here we go. Numbuh Two turns around, does something, and then inserts his finger into the Module. He then turns back toward me and aims the Module at me, before proceeding to twist something on the side. The "Pop Goes the Weasel" music starts playing from it as a blue beam of light and energy hits me and I rise into the air. I... I feel weird... Wait... HOLD ON! So many things are flooding into my mind! It's at the point where it's super hard to process. So many memories are coming back, but some of them are more prominent that others.

* * *

 ** _December 6, 2008 - 2:41 PM_**

There's a park in the middle of Pokey Oaks, with that large marble "gazebo" or whatever it's called in the middle. There's a playground on one side, the Game Hive on the other, and a candy store across from that! It's just the perfect place to play with your friends on the weekends or during the summer! In fact, all of my friends and I are playing Hide and Seek there right now. We've set the play area to be just the park and the playground this time (because last time we included the Game Hive and it took forever for them to find me), and we're having lots of fun right now. We've just started another game, and Lucas is it. As soon as he puts his hands over his eyes and starts counting to 30, we quietly hurry over to our hiding places. Evan and I end up going to the same place: behind one of the large cherry blossom trees surrounded by bushes. We'll be hidden for a while.

After a few moments, Evan whispers something to me: "Hey, Mark. Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure," I whisper back, while also keeping watch for Lucas. Oh, it seems that he found Amanda, and is now chasing her around the gazebo.

"Something really cool happened a couple days ago," Evan says. "I found this letter in my room, apparently from something called 'The Kids Next Door'. I took a look at it and it had this email. I sent something to it just to see what would happen, and my computer went all black. And then the words ' _are u in?'_ showed up. They told me to go a certain address, and I ended up going to this large treehouse, and now I'm a part of it. And it is so cool!"

"How cool are we talking?" I ask. Evan's about to answer, until he sees Amanda, Lucas and John searching the place together, and Amanda notices me peeking out. Oh, shoot. She runs toward us, and we start running.

"I'm talking 'having a base on the Moon' crazy," Evan says as we run up the eastern side. We're way out in the open here. I look over my shoulder, and all three of them are chasing us down, and they're getting closer. And also, what?! How could that be possible?! Bases on the moon?! Humans haven't gone back to the moon in decades!

"Are you sure?" I play along, even though I'm pretty sure Evan's pranking me somehow. A hidden base on the moon seems too good to be true.

"Yes. Anyway, how are we going to outrun these guys?" Evan asks.

"I have an idea," I say. Still, though, what is Evan trying to say here? Is this "Kids Next Door" thing super secret to the point where they can hide a Moon Base? Is it on the far side of the moon? I still don't know, though. Anyway, I think I know how to outrun them. "Follow my lead."

I run out in front of Evan and we turn left into the northeast part. We slightly slow down, too. Then, when Amanda, Lucas and John get close, we quickly turn around and run behind them toward the gazebo. We run up the stairs, past the statues of the Powerpuff Girls, and seemingly go down the stairs, but instead we dive behind one of the large, cone-shaped decorative bushes. We hear Lucas, Amanda and John running down the stairs and looking around, and they don't seem to notice us yet. However, John must notice us because he runs directly for us. We burst out, but we end up surrounded. Evan starts to climb up onto the stairs, but he's already intercepted by Lucas. As for me, Amanda just tagged me. OK, now Chris and Aidan are the only ones left.

As Evan and I are walking around the park looking for Aidan and Chris, we reach one of the more remote parts of the park before we continue our conversation. Evan says, "OK, seriously, the KND is real, but you can't tell anyone else but me about it, for the whole world's sake. Just trust me. They probably already know I've told you about it, so... expect something from them very soon."

After a few more games, we decide to stop for the day. Since most of our homes aren't that far apart, most of us walk home. On the way to my house, everything feels odd. It feels like I'm being watched intently by someone, or something. I stop and look around in all directions. I don't see anyone, but I feel like someone's keeping a very close eye on me. I try to take a detour to my house, and nothing changes. I still feel like I'm being followed. I proceed to run, as fast as I can. When I get home, my parents are a bit confused when they open the door, and I tell them I think something's following me. They look around the house and see nothing. At the time my parents are looking around the outside of the house, that feeling of being watched goes away.

That night, I'm playing video games in my room, and I'm trying to beat this level so I can get over to the next stage. I'm on the boss monster right now, and it's at less than a quarter health. I'm about to use my special attack, which should deal a ton of damage, but at that moment the screen goes black. Oh come on! I was so close to beating it! Huh... Of course. Of all the times my computer could go weird, it does it now. I go to the wires to plug them back in. Wait, what the heck? The wires are all plugged in, so what the heck happened? OK... I look back up to the computer, and this white rectangle is flashing on the screen, with beeping accompanying the flashes. The rectangle goes to the right, and words show up behind it. Something's being typed on my screen.

 _"hello"_

What? OK... Is my computer being hacked? Oh dear! I think I'm being hacked! I try to shut my computer down, but nothing works. I try to type, and nothing works.

"What is this?" I say. Maybe it can hear me. OK, more words are showing up, so it can hear me. The words say:

 _"we are the knd"_

What? KND? Wait... KND... That's short for Kids Next Door! So the Kids Next Door is real? Or did Evan do something to enter my computer? I don't think so. Even though Evan is the pranking type, he doesn't know how to hack into computers. Not that I know of, at least.

"What do you want?"

 _"we want 2 know:_

 _are u in?"_

...I guess so. If Evan's in it and this is real, and there are actually bases on the moon, then I definitely want to see them!

"Uh... yeah," I say. Not one moment later, I hear knocking on my door. I slowly open the door and find nobody there, but there's a letter on the ground, with **_"KND"_** drawn in pen on it. I quickly take the letter and bring it into my room before my parents or Jade can come up and see it. I swiftly tear the letter open and take out whatever is inside it. It's a card with a picture on it. It's a picture of a large treehouse, with all these things on it. What on earth is this? This has to be edited somehow. But it must be a really good editor, because it looks perfectly real in this photo. Below the picture is the address, and the words _"your friend will bring you here tomorrow"_.

It turns out that would be true. The next day, Evan brought me to the KND Treehouse, and I learned all about the Kids Next Door. I was in awe that something like this could be hidden so well from the outside world, and Evan remarked how they regularly stop leaks from happening. I ended up joining Evan's squad under the codename "Numbuh 780", and we managed to bring Amanda, Aidan, Lucas, Chris and John into the KND too. We would become a force to be reckoned with, as whenever we went on missions, we almost NEVER failed, and the only times we did were because of some outside thing messing with what we were doing. Our group of friends would have years and years of fun, but we knew our time in the KND would be limited.

* * *

 ** _April 4, 2014 - 2:20 PM_**

It was a school day. We were sitting in Algebra class and doing our work like normally, when Jade flew to the window, calling out to us. We were confused initially, but Jade kept on saying how something was coming, and that we all had to get out now! That's when we saw it. From the south, a wave of dark smoke started to approach us. We could see it enshroud everything in its path, and right before it was a wave of creatures. We didn't know what they were, and we didn't know what to do except to run. We all ran out of the building and away from that cloud. It must have been thousands of feet high. The Powerpuffs flew toward the cloud and never came back. We don't know what happened. All I know is that Evan, Amanda, Aidan, all of our other friends and I wouldn't have made it out if we didn't use one of the hidden KND escape pods to launch us toward the Moon Base before the wave of transformation could reach our school. I don't even know what that is, but as we ran, I saw it turn our school into a factory, and the creatures following in its wake were old zombies. And the guy behind all this looked like Father (one of our worst enemies), except way more terrifying-looking. I myself had no idea what is going on, but I sure as heck know it's not safe to be on Earth right now. We knew there was a pod hidden somewhere close outside the campus. As we ran, Jade said how the house was overrun and Andrew and our parents were turned, and that she barely got out in time. Evan finds the key to the pod hidden in a tree outside the campus. The ground opened up around the tree and rose up to reveal the entrance to the pod. We all quickly got inside as a few of the old zombies came near. The pod then lowered down and shot through the underground tunnel, before going up into the sky.

Now, we look out back to Earth as the escape pod heads for the Moon Base. Oh my god... There is literally a wave of smoke covering the Earth. I have no idea what is going on underneath that cloud of smoke, but it's definitely not good.

"What are we gonna do?" Jade asks, worried as all heck.

"We're... we're going to find a way to fix this..." I say, even though I myself am not entirely sure if we can find a way. "We have to try."

It takes about 30 minutes for our escape pod to get to the far side of the moon. The Moon Base has always been set up there, because it'd be really, really obvious if it wasn't. And whenever satellites from Offworld Plaza show up to observe the far side of the moon, the Moon Base activates a cloaking mechanism so that it can't be seen. When the Moon Base appears over the horizon, we hope that it has not been taken yet by these zombies. Once our escape pod crashes into the hangar bay and comes to a stop, we get out and realize that we're too late. The Moon Base is already in the process of being overrun. These old-looking zombies... Whenever they grab an operative, I see green start to surround the part of the body where the zombies grab them, and the next part seems to vary: it can either take a while or be instantaneous, but it seems that right before transforming, light shines out of the operative's eyes, mouth, ears and nose before they fully become one of **them**.

When we see a squad of them burst into the hangar to assist the ones already in here, we run. We straight-up run, and don't look back. We manage to get into one of the armories which wasn't almost empty. We grab everything we can. **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** s, **G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A.** s, **S.P.I.C.E.R.** s, **P.U.T.T.U.H.** jetpacks, anything we could use to help. Evan even gets a Gatling Gum, which launches gumballs at a way faster rate than our GUMZOOKAs. Once we're all armed up and ready to fight, we go through one of the hallways and into one of the larger rooms. Hopefully we've have more room to fight here.

"More Senior Citi-Zombies approaching!" I hear another operative say in the distance. So that's what the zombies are called? That's interesting. I think we'll call them SCZs, though, because "Senior Citi-Zombie" is quite a mouthful. It seems like this room in particular does not have many of these SCZ's in it, but that could be subject to change. Well, speak of _Him_. One of the large wooden doors gets busted down and a large amount of SCZs start swarming into the room. Oh god, that's a lot more than I thought! That's at least 15 of them! We start to turn around to get back into the hangar, but there's more coming from that direction too! John runs to the door leading to the smaller hallway and slams the door, blocking that method of them getting to us. We get our weapons and fire at the SCZs coming from the bigger door. Gumballs, hot sauce beams, teddy bears and more fly across the room, but nothing we do stops them. At best, we slow them down a little bit. Are there any more ways out of this room? I survey our surroundings. There are no doors on the ground floor. Is there anything above? YES! There's a bridge, and it looks like there's no SCZs there! We can get out that way!

"Quick, we gotta get up there!" I say, pointing to the bridge. We won't be able to use our PUTTUHs, though. The bridge is too high up. Jade nods, and buries her diamond claws into the floor. A few moments later, crystals start to protrude from the floor near her. We're going to climb these.

"Come on, let's go!"

We start climbing up the crystals as they form. I go first, then Lucas, then Aidan, then Evan. The longer Jade's claws are in the floor, the more crystals can be made and bring us higher up. Amanda, Chris and John start climbing as well. Jade is still down there, though. We slow down the SCZs from getting Jade as much as we can. However, Amanda accidentally gets too close, and one of the SCZs grabs her. Then another, then another. And she starts to be turned as light shines in the zombie crowd, accompanied by her screams. No! Then a few seconds later, Amanda emerges as SCZ Amanda. She looks so old right now. I really don't want that to happen to me or any more of my friends.

"Come on, guys! It's not that bad!" SCZ Amanda says. "We're going to get you no matter what!"

"You won't today!" I say back, trying not to be emotional after losing one of our friends to these monsters. "Jade! Get up here!"

The crystals Jade formed have gone 3/4 of the way up to the bridge. But the SCZs are getting way too close now. John and Chris start running for the climbable crystal spire we've created. Jade flies up to the top as John and Chris get to the structure. However, John gets caught by one of the SCZs and becomes turned as well. The SCZs reach the crystals and start climbing them. We keep blasting them off, but we won't be able to keep going like this forever. When we see SCZ Amanda start climbing, we look away as we knock her back down. But all the SCZs keep getting up. Jade flies down to partway in the middle of the spire to create more crystals to block the SCZs from getting to us.

Wait... the crystals at the bottom are starting to turn greenish at the edges, and then the greenish parts break apart. The SCZs are destroying them! I alert Jade to it and she starts creating crystals around wherever they're destroyed. She creates the crystals at a faster rate that the SCZs are aging them, but she herself is starting to get tired. She usually doesn't create this many crystals in such a short time. I wonder how much money we would make if we were to sell all of them.

Uh-oh. It seems that the creation of crystals is starting to get slower and slower. Soon, the base of the spire will be destroyed, and who knows what'll happen next!

"Quick, follow my lead!" I say. I'm about to activate my PUTTUH because I'm certain I can get up to the bridge from here, but then I'm knocked off my feet by something. I momentarily look down, and realize what's happening. The base of the crystal structure's been destroyed, and now the entire thing is falling. Jade catches me and holds onto my leg, so I'm still in the air. But I end up watching as Evan, Aidan, Lucas and Chris all fall with the spire and get transformed. Light shines out of the crowd and we hear their screams. Only Jade and I are left.

"We got this, guys!" I hear Evan say after the light goes away, sounding way older. Most of the SCZs go away to go to other places, but the SCZ versions of all my friends stay behind. They're staring at me with those blank yellow eyes, all grinning.

"Come on, Mark!" SCZ-Aidan says. "Come down and join us!"

"No!" I say outright.

"Isn't it better to be one of us, Mark?" SCZ-Evan says. "We can all be together again!"

"I don't want to be like you!" I say. "Jade, get us out!"

Jade starts levitating upward, but suddenly we realize something bad. The SCZs have made it onto the bridge. A few of them jump down and grab Jade. She lets go of me, and I launch toward one of the pipes on the underside of the bridge using my PUTTUH. It lasts long enough for me to grab onto one of the pipes on the underside of the bridge with my hands, but I feel something touch my leg. I look down, and it's Jade. She's also been turned now. She's clawing into my lower pant leg, and something's happening to my leg. Oh no! She's starting to transform me. I try to kick SCZ-Jade off of me, but she's not letting go. The wave of transformation is going higher up. It's at my hip, and it's going to surround me completely. And I've realized, too: I've lost all the feeling in my legs, and I'm starting to lose my grip. I can't let myself lose like this. I get my GUMZOOKA, reluctantly blast SCZ-Jade in the face with gumballs, then use whatever's left in my jetpack to launch me away from the bridge. But something grabs me again. It's certainly SCZ-Jade. The transformation wave has reached my chest. I'm going to change. Jade then brings me down to SCZ-Evan and my other transformed friends. I am filled with fear right now as I am about to be transformed. They grab my face and arms, and I scream in terror. I feel myself aging decades within only seconds. Then all of a sudden, the pain stops. I don't really remember anything from when I was a SCZ. I only remember a couple fragments: us celebrating over being a whole group again, then the sky turning toward Earth, and then Earth getting way closer. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the ruins of the Moon Base, which was now on Earth, in the Hookslice Hills area.

I remember the Powerpuff Girls took the credit again for saving the day that day, but we had to use the memory-erasing smoke on most of the world in order to trick them into thinking that was the case as we cleaned up where the Moon Base's ruins were. We also made everyone think that a meteorite had crashed into Hookslice Hills instead, and that the meteorite itself had been taken to the Offworld Plaza Space Center for study. The KND was able to get a new moon base already up on the Moon within a couple weeks, but it was a very busy time. But all that matters now is that the world is the way it was again.

* * *

 ** _April 19, 2015 - 4:06 PM_**

I know the Decommissioning Squad is going to be at my door any moment now. I'm sitting on the couch in the living room, and I'm just staring at the door, ready. I used one of my last few gadgets to freeze my parents, Andrew and Jade so that they won't have to deal with this. I was initially thinking of not freezing Andrew, but I overrode that decision because I didn't want his first experience of the KND to be a negative one. They'd probably freeze him anyway before taking me, so it wouldn't even matter. And now, I'm just holding a full GUMZOOKA in my hands, looking at it. It'll be the last KND thing I'll probably ever hold. All the journals I made to document all my KND experiences have just vanished, too. I can't find them anywhere. They definitely took them. It makes sense. After all, they wouldn't want me to learn about them. For all we know, they may be editing them so it's something else.

I told all my friends who haven't yet been decommissioned to just go to the Moon Base to prepare for my own. Two days from now, I will turn 13, and the KND takes an operative turning 13 very seriously. Unless you somehow manage to get into the Teen Operative group (which is always almost impossible unless you're a really well-known member or just lucky, like Evan was), the moment that you turn 13, you're now a target. They won't trust you anymore. You're someone to find and hunt down. And from what I've seen, the more you run, the bigger of a threat you are. I don't want to cause too much trouble. I know they'll find me. They know my address. They know all my contacts, and they know all my contacts' addresses. They certainly know my contacts' contacts and their addresses too. They'll find me no matter what, so I might as well just turn myself in where it'll be easiest to find me.

 **"Kids Next Door Operative Numbuh 780, you are hereby scheduled for immediate decommissioning!"** Numbuh 86's voice rings out. She's the Head of Decommissioning, and she loves decommissioning operatives as much as she dislikes boys. **"Surrender yourself immediately!"**

And here we go. It's time for me to leave. I open the door, and see several of them, all pointing their various weapons at me even though I'm not going to do anything to hurt them. The one leading the group, the one in the green sweater, orange skirt and that makeshift samurai-looking helmet, is Numbuh 86. I put my hands up and they grab me, take my GUMZOOKA and bring me to one of the secret rocket launch areas. They've even locked me in handcuffs. They bring me to a rocket, with pods lined along the edge. I see several other operatives that I assume have also recently turned 13 inside those pods. They look hopeless, scared, sad, or angry. As for me, I've already accepted this ever since I joined the KND.

It takes a bit longer for us to get to the new Moon Base than normal, and while we're going into space and toward the moon (which takes a few hours), I reflect on all my experiences with the KND. The first time I went to the Moon Base and the other planetary bases, all the missions, all the fun. It's all going to be erased and replaced with other things. OK, I'm starting to feel a little bit sad now. Once we arrive, they bring me out and take me to one of the conveyor transportation systems. I take one last look at everything I can look at while on the way. I took all this for granted, but now that I'll never see this again, I see it in a whole new light. Well, I won't remember any of this at all anyway, so it doesn't matter. And here are the large wooden doors that lead to the Decommissioning Chamber. Many operatives leave the KND every day in this room. It's much more common than you think, but the KND is so good at hiding even this that it doesn't seem like decommission happens that much. They haven't seen what I saw. Evan and I had found a super (or "sooper" as they'd call it) secret passage about two years ago that led to a view into the Decommissioning Chamber. I saw operative after operative lose their memories of the KND when they sat in those seats, and now I'll be in those seats. I know exactly what awaits me.

Once we arrive at the Decommissioning Chamber, I see Amanda, Evan and John. They're the only ones left of our friend group who are in the KND. Every time one of our friends got decommissioned, things got weirder and just exponentially harder for us whenever a friend was decommissioned. Maybe it'll be good that I won't feel that same uncomfortableness anymore. I'm led in the chamber and the Decommissioning Squad members put me in one of the four seats that the teenagers sit in to get decommissioned. The seat that I'm put in faces the entrance. Once we're all seated in, Evan tells me something:

"If you want, when Andrew comes of age to be an operative, I could bring him into the KND. Is that OK?"

"Yeah, he'll get so excited when he finds out this is real," I say.

 **"ALRIGHT, TEENAGERS! SHUT UP AND LISTEN!"** Numbuh 86 screams. I wonder how many operatives she's decommissioned over her career, and then I start wondering who will decommission her when the time comes. That would be interesting, but unfortunately, I'll never see that. Hopefully Evan will see Numbuh 86 get decommissioned, which I'm sure he'll find hilarious.

"Goodbye," Evan says. He, Amanda and John proceed to leave the room, and Numbuh 86 walks up to us. Numbuh 86 looks at Evan with partial disgust momentarily, as if Evan gave her a glare in response to my decommissioning. Thanks, Evan. As the door opens for Evan and my other friends to leave, I see someone else. It's glowing, and I can tell it's watching me. Is that who I think it is? I only see it for a second before the door closes again.

"You know what's going to happen next," Numbuh 86 says. "The process of your decommission will only take a couple of minutes, after which you'll have absolutely no memory of anything having to do with the Kids Next Door- ...You know what, let's just get this over with. **START THE PROCEDURE!** "

A TV lowers from a machine high up and stops in front of my face. The TV is mainly static until it cuts to a countdown similar to those on an old film reel. It starts at 10. As the seconds go by, I get more and more nervous. I have no idea of knowing for certain if decommission hurts or not, but from what I've seen, it's uncomfortable. Even then, it doesn't matter because I'll never remember anything here. The operatives to the sides of and behind me are panicking. The one on my right is screaming that this is a mistake, and that he's not 13. The one on my left is struggling to get out, and the one behind me is pleading for something to get her out of here. They all want to get out, but I know better. There's no leaving this room. Right before the countdown reaches 0, I see Amanda, John and Evan looking at me from the secret viewing area, before machinery comes down and surrounds my face. I hear buzzing, beeping and odd noises. Every second that goes by, I feel like my consciousness is being drained from me. At the same time, I'm starting to remember less and less as well. Wait, why is this happening? Where am I? What is going on? When I hear other people screaming behind me, my panic kicks into overdrive. I scream out for help too, but nobody comes to save me. After a minute or so, I go unconscious.

The next thing I know, I wake up in my bed, in my home. On the day of my 13th birthday party.

* * *

Even though my actual birthday would be the day after, it's also a Monday, and so we decided to have the party the day before. It would be way closer than doing it the next weekend. That birthday party would turn out to be semi-awkward, as it seemed that a few of my friends were adjusting to something that affected all of them without me knowing. I specifically could tell Amanda, Evan and John were those people. I guessed it was something unrelated that was happening elsewhere, but it was still weird. I waited a few weeks, and it was still going on. But then after Amanda's birthday not that long after, it stopped for her. I asked her if something was going on that I was unaware of, she said "no" in a way that made it clear to me she had no idea what I was talking about. After John's birthday, the weirdness left for him as well. But Evan would act strange whenever I would mention certain things, though. He would do that for years, and I was a bit confused as to what happened. But... now I know what it was.

* * *

 ** _Mark - January 14, 2019 - 3:57 PM_**

I remember now. I remember everything. All the missions my friends and I went on. Everything we did before my decommissioning from the Kids Next Door. Those memories are all back.

"Are you OK, Mark?" Evan, or Numbuh 781, asks as the fog clears. As for his question, I feel odd. It's as if somebody messed with my memories a second time, and replaced certain things with me being in A SUPER SECRET KID ORGANIZATION! It's so weird! So... the moon-based slumber parties were not real... They were just altered versions of a slumber party my friends had at the KND Moon Base! I feel like a part of me I didn't even realize was gone has returned again. Now I know why Evan was sad whenever I brought up certain things. I was reminding him of the Kids Next Door stuff we used to do, because he wasn't decommissioned like the rest of us, and we couldn't go on missions with him anymore. But now...

"Yeah," I say to my friends. "I'm feeling a bit better now."

"Welcome back, Numbuh 780," Numbuh Two. Yes... I am Numbuh 780 of the Kids Next Door, and I am back. I instinctively salute Numbuh Two when he says that to me. I look to Amanda, Numbuh 782. Lucas, he's Numbuh 784. I remember my friends' assigned numbers now. "But to make things easier, I'll still call you Mark."

"That's fine," I say. "So what now?"

"I think you've had enough to deal with for one day," Numbuh Two says. "You're free to do whatever you want for the rest of today. Within reason, of course."

"Sweet!" Evan says. "Come on, guys! Let's go to the TV room!"

"Alright, I'll be with you in a second," I say. Now that I've been recommissioned, I know EXACTLY where the TV room is in the Treehouse. I also know about the Bathroom We Never Use, the giant Cheese Repository and more. I spent a bit of time as an operative here, enough to know where most of the important rooms are in relation to each other. But before I go to the TV room, I have to check something else. Myself. I need to see what I'm like now, as I haven't looked a single mirror since I got into this future. OK, the nearest bathroom should be two lefts and a right from the Primary Vault. I go over there, and look in the mirror as soon as I can. And what I see is completely different from the last time I looked in a mirror.

My clothes are all dirty, with tears and rips in places. There are some bruises and cuts on me, and that's just from what I've seen. My hair is the most messed up it's probably ever been, but the most prominent thing that's new is this huge bruise on the left side of my cheek that surrounds a pretty bad cut. What's interesting is that now that I've seen it, it hurts a bit more. I look like a mess right now. This is insane. ...Alright, I should just accept that nothing is going to be normal anymore, or rather, that this is going to be the new normal for a while. Well, my friends are waiting for me, so I might as well come down.

I then go down to the TV room, where all my friends are. It takes around 5 minutes, but it's not that hard to navigate. I arrive on the Upper Deck. There's some other operatives in here as well, either playing games, listening to music or other things. I look over the deck and see Evan, Amanda, Lucas, Jade, Andrew, Gumball and... two others next to him. One is a little, pink, anthropomorphic bunny in an orange dress, and the other is a glowing, orange-to-yellow gradient colored (from bottom to top) fairy-like creature with wings and antlers. OK... I guess I'll find out who these people are soon. They probably have some involvement with Gumball, but that's just me guessing. They're all sitting on large beanbags near a large window and talking about things. I start going down the stairs to the lower deck and get ready to meet up with my friends. There's a lot of things I need up to catch up on.


	9. Together Again

**Hello, again! I know it's been a very long time since the last chapter was published, and I apologize for that. I had not originally intended for it to take this long, but better late than never, I suppose. Because now, the story has returned! And next time, it should not take anywhere near as long for the next few chapters as before, so if you're worried about that, there's no need to be worried. I have a lot more that I want to show you.**

 **Anyways, let's jump back into the story!**

* * *

 _ **Mark - January 14, 2019 - 4:06 PM**_

I look down at my friends, Andrew, Gumball and those other two as I start to head down the stairs. I don't know what to say. I'm just... After everything that's happened, all the crazy things I've done over today, it's all catching up to me and now I'm feeling super tired and sore. I do see, though, that none of my friends are in Kids Next Door gear anymore. Amanda's wearing that same purple hoodie, dark grey pants and white-and-magenta boots. Lucas is wearing a simple black shirt, dark grey pants with a single red line going down the sides, and black shoes. As for Evan... Well, I haven't really known him to have a specific outfit, but at the moment Evan is wearing a yellow T-shirt with brighter yellow cuffs on the edge of the sleeves, simple blue jeans and white sneakers with orange lines. Anyway, my friends are talking to each other near one of the many TVs, while Andrew and Jade are hanging out with Gumball, the bunny and the fairy. I can hear what Andrew is talking about: it's me. He's saying how I just got recommissioned and that I should be here any moment now. They're all sitting on large beanbag chairs, which is understandable, because I'd also prefer to not sit on that wooden floor for a long period of time.

At first, none of them see me, until the fairy notices me looking at them. We look at each other for a second, and I see its eyes have dark red pupils. The more I look at this fairy and its eyes, the more I feel that it's a she. The fairy then turns to Andrew.

"Hey, Andrew, is that Mark?" the fairy asks, her voice confirming that yeah, she is a girl. Andrew turns to the fairy, then to me, who she's pointing at. The moment he sees me, he stands up really quickly.

"Hey, Mark!" Andrew says, followed by my friends, Jade, Gumball and the bunny looking in my direction. Then the entire TV room goes silent. All the operatives in the room are looking at me. They all know who I am, because of Dexter's transmission to all the operatives. Unlike before, in the ice cream shop, while it was a little weird having the eyes of about 5-10 people were looking at me, the fact that I feel the eyes of DOZENS of people fixed on me intently is even worse. And it's not that I have stage fright, because if I did, I wouldn't be part of a group of channels with my friends (which got a lot of attention after we posted that video where Buttercup got blasted into the ocean and Bubbles nearly killed Mojo). What's so nerve-wracking about it is that they expect so much of me. They think I'm their last hope to save the planet from total destruction. At least with the channel group, all that was expected of us was good, funny videos.

I can tell that they're analyzing me on everything, like how capable I am of fighting, how prepared I look, etc. And I know that I don't look good right now; I look like a mess. It's just now that I notice I've stopped moving. I... I can't be here right now. It's way too uncomfortable. All these people having their eyes fixed on me like this is not good for me.

"Hold on..." I say, as I head the opposite direction and leave the TV room. Once I'm out of their view, I run. I do hear Amanda say, "Oh, great job, guys..." in a very sarcastic tone before I can't hear her anymore. I... I just don't want to be near anyone right now. I need to find somewhere where nobody else is. And I know the perfect place. The very, very top of the Treehouse, where the big satellite dish is. It's usually a long trek up there, but I attempt it. As I'm walking higher and higher, across the branches and through the hallways. I think about everything that's gone down. I saw Aidan die in front of me. I learned Chris and John were both dead, as well as how they died. And then to top it all off, my parents turn out to be dead too. That's, like... almost HALF of the important people in my life.

I don't even make it halfway up the Treehouse before I'm hit with a barrage of emotions. I'm starting to leave the huge ship attached to the Treehouse when my eyes can't hold tears back anymore. I hurry off to a platform that extends off the hallway and to the right. I check my surroundings, before I sit down on the bench with a "KND"-shaped backrest rail. I then let my emotions out, and the tears start dropping. I look around again, to make sure nobody's around. Not that I would care, anyway; I have much bigger things to worry about. And even if they did see me, they'd probably understand. This is such a huge change for me.

All I hear right now is the wind, the sound of branches rustling, an occasional dripping noise and the noises I'm making. Other than that, it's almost silent. During this time, I contemplate what's happened, and how much I want to stop it. I want to get out of this nightmare. I'll do anything within reason to get back to the past. I don't care if I have to fight, which I know I'll have to eventually. And if I see a Fusion Spawn, or any Fusion Monster, I know I'm going to do what Lucas did and, while Lucas just punched it until he couldn't anymore due to the pain, I will use my Lightning Gun and blast every one of those little abominations to smithereens! I look at the Lightning Gun in my hands. I haven't let go of it since I got to the Treehouse. And I have a feeling that I won't let go of it for a while. I sit there for a few minutes before I hear Andrew's voice.

"Mark?" I hear Andrew ask loudly. For a split second, I feel like I'm back in my apartment, with me on the floor by the bed and covered in my blanket. He continues to say "MARK?" as loud as possible, and I don't answer for at least four or five more times. I take that long because I try to stop crying, and I'm somewhat successful. I still feel a few of the tears on my face, though, and so I wipe them off my face.

"I'm over here, Andrew," I say. I hear a zooming sound, and within seconds I feel a blast of wind. He sits down next to me on the bench, on my left.

"I'm sorry about causing that and making you feel uncomfortable," Andrew says. "I shouldn't have yelled it out."

"It's OK," I say as Andrew puts his hand on my shoulder, and I feel this odd feeling. I didn't notice it before, but I felt really exhausted, and now I feel some energy coming back into me.

"Don't worry about what they think. I'm feeling the same things you are too. I hate the Fusions as much as you do. I want to destroy them just as much, too."

"But... have you seen what I've seen? I saw someone close to me get gruesomely killed right in front of me, as I was unable to do anything to save him!"

"Yes, actually. I've seen that. When we were being evacuated from Tech Square, around a week ago, that Cyberus had jumped out of the shadows at Dad before we realized it was there. If I had seen it coming, I could have used my powers, but by the time I noticed it was there, it was already tearing its teeth into... I tried to save him, I really did, but... I was too late..."

"It's OK, you don't need to talk about it, Andrew..." I say. "I'll save our parents. I'll save our friends. I'll go back and stop this somehow. I don't really know how I will, but I want to. I need to. I can't let this happen to you or any of our friends again. I'm going to find a way- No. _We're_ going to find a way to fix this. All of us will. Together."

Andrew smiles, which I am so glad to see in this day of darkness. And when he smiles, I smile too. I've probably reached the lowest point in my life, and still Andrew is able to make me feel better and hopeful for the future. Andrew also seems to be radiating some form of energy, because I see a barely visible pulse of energy coming from him. That must be a consequence of his powers, whatever they are. Oh, right! Andrew's powers! I want to know where they came from, and what exactly they are!

"Hey, Andrew, I never got to ask," I say. "What happened that made you get powers?"

* * *

 _ **Andrew - July 8, 2016 - 8:53 AM**_

 **YES! TODAY IS MY 8TH BIRTHDAY!** I'm really excited, even if a key part of it will be missing. And it seems that I'm trying to make up for that by overdoing everything else. I've been running all over the apartment since 6:00 AM because I wanted to be super ready. Jade's using her crystal-making powers to decorate the apartment with stuff, and I've already prepared ideas for what we'll do. The party will start at around noon, and Evan and all of his friends are coming, but I can't help thinking that something very special will also happen today. I don't know what it'll be, but I hope so much that someone awesome shows up, like Bubbles. Or Blossom. Maybe Mark may come back. I don't know. I hope so. That would be the gift to end all other gifts.

So far, I have it planned that when Evan, all his friends, and my other friends come over, we're going to do all sorts of stuff. And since it's summer, we can have a slumber party like Mark and his friends did! And then, since the new episode of _Realms_ is happening next morning, we're going to wake up early in the going to watch that.

Anyway, Jade and I are taking a break right now from getting everything set up. Most of it's already ready, and we're more than three hours away from the party actually starting. I guess we'll play now, but I don't want to use up all my energy before the party actually begins. So I just go to the balcony and use Mark's old binoculars and our apartment's height as advantages to see if any day-savings are happening. While I'm doing that, I see the pink and blue streaks of light. The Powerpuff Girls! I immediately move my binoculars to where they may have gone, but I don't see them anymore. A lot of these buildings, especially south of Galaxy Gardens, are blocking the way. Dang it. Well, at least I was able to see something. That's when a bright greenish-blue flash comes through the binoculars, and I back away. I don't know why, but I feel odd. It's as if something about me just changed, but I don't know exactly what. All I know is that I feel like I have way more energy now.

"OK, OK, I'm coming in," I hear Dad say. I hear another voice coming from where he is. "Just, can you tell me why you need me right now? ...Wait, you're serious? You received... What was in it? ...What do you mean? ...What? You're saying... I-I'll be over as soon as I can. But if it takes too long, I might have to head back. I don't want to miss Andrew's party... Oh, I won't be the only one coming if that's the case. I'll be there as soon as possible. Alright, bye."

I put my binoculars down and turn around. Through the window, I see quickly moving toward the front door. I walk over to the entrance back into the house as Dad hangs up the call. I still stay on the balcony, but I look in to see what's happening. What is he talking about? He's calling somebody, and the projection I see from the phone looks familiar. I realize who it is as soon as Dad hangs up the call. It's Dexter!

"Was that Dexter?" I ask, getting a bit excited. I don't know why, but I feel a rush of energy when I do. Dad looks over to me. He's all messy. His jacket isn't on the right way, his briefcase has things sticking out of it, and more. He's in a rush.

"Yeah, that was," he says. "I'm sorry, Andrew, b-but I have to go right now. Dexter needs m-me to come in. I'll- I'll be back in a few hours! I'll make sure not to miss your birthday party!"

"Why?" I ask. Dad's acting a bit odd.

"Yeah, why?" Mom also asks. "I thought that Dexter allowed you to take the day off today. What's going on?"

"Well, Dexter told me that only minutes ago, he received transmissions from that wormhole that had just popped up a week or so ago in his lab. The transmissions contained holographic schematics and instructions for machines that not only how to create these we made without any time machine needed, but also how to hold them open for up to hours at a time. But what they really need me for is that the transmission that was sent from the other side of that wormhole... is meant to bring back Mark."

At this point, I stop focusing on anything else and ask how he knows that. Dad continues, "Dexter said there was something on the holographic projection that said it may bring back Mark. There wasn't really anything else, but we believe that Mark definitely survived the journey, and using the schematics that were sent, we could bring him back."

Wait... what? Did Dad just say that Mark can come back now? Is this what the Guardian was talking about when he said Mark's return was "potentially sooner"? **IS MARK GOING TO BE COMING BACK?** I feel more excitement that I think I've felt since meeting Dexter more than a month ago, and it's at that exact moment that I feel a ton of energy within me, and I jump up, yelling **"YES!"** However, I don't just jump. I launch really high up. And by that, I mean **really, REALLY** high. I'm flying into the sky. I look down and I'm going higher and higher and higher, with a trail of bright green energy behind me. I must have gone hundreds of feet up right now. I keep going up and up, but I do notice I'm starting to slow down. I get slower and slower until I stop. And then I start going down. Oh, no. OH, NO! I'M FALLING! **HELP!**

I scream out for help, because I know that the Powerpuff Girls have super hearing, and so if I scream loud enough, they should hear me. I look down to the ground. Yeah, I'm really, really high up, and I'm falling faster and faster. I'm scared, and I have no idea how I've gone so high up. What did I do? And what do I do now? I don't know. I scream again, unsure of what else to do, and when I'm still a good distance from the ground, something grabs me and I slow down until I'm no longer falling. Then we move downward again.

"Don't worry, I've got you," a voice says. It's Bubbles! I start smiling like a cartoon character, and I feel energy coming off of me as I instinctively shake with excitement.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Bubbles asks as we start to wobble a little bit. And as for what she said, I have no idea! I don't know what's happening! How did I launch into the sky?! I have so many more questions, but right now, I can't believe my situation right now! Being saved by a Powerpuff was a dream of mine years ago. I remember that I wanted so badly to be nearer to the Powerpuff Girls that I would try to get closer to or even get involved in a crime scene so that the Powerpuff Girls would find and save me. Thankfully, Mark would stop me each time, and he told me that the Powerpuffs wouldn't want it and would want me to stay safe. After he said that, I've never tried to run into a crime scene again. It would still be awesome to end up in a situation where I'd end up getting saved. Oh, hey, I'm in that situation right now! AND IT'S AWESOME!

Once Bubbles puts me down, I turn around super quickly. I don't know what's happening, but everything I do is super fast. I'm sure that just me turning around created a blast of wind. When I see Bubbles, any other thoughts I had disappear and instead are, **"AAAAAH! A POWERPUFF GIRL IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"** I run around Bubbles in a circle, because I'm so excited, but then I realize: I'm running around her extremely fast. I don't know exactly how fast, but it has to be faster than the fastest person I've seen run. What do I do? I try to stop myself, and I launch myself across Tech Square, nearly missing the fountain in the middle. I slide across the grass, and get up dizzy.

"Are you OK?" I hear another voice say. Blossom! It's Blossom! Both Powerpuffs are near me! "Bubbles, what happened?"

"I don't know," Bubbles says. "He was falling from the sky and I saved him. After that, he started running around me and he nearly caused a tornado!"

"Bubbles, people can't cause tornadoes by running. That's biologically impossible unless he's-"

Still excited about being saved by Bubbles, I start to walk toward her and Blossom. But I end up moving way faster than I wanted, and I pass them within moments. Oh, shoot! I'm gonna go into the street! I turn around and start walking the other way, and this time I stop. OK, I'm still in Tech Square, but there's a trail I've burned into the grass. I turn around and everyone is either recording this or running. Wait... what on earth just happened?

"Andrew! Andrew!" I hear Dad say on my right. I turn and he, Jade and Mom running toward me. "Are you OK?"

"Y-yeah," I say. "What the heck is happening?!"

"I don't know, but it seems that you've acquired some sort of superhuman ability," Blossom says. "How and when did you get this?"

"Just now!" I say back. "I have no idea why, either! Even though it kinda rules-"

"Listen, Andrew," Mom says. "We need to get you somewhere where we can get answers."

Mom turns around and faces toward Dexlabs. I look that way too, and I see a ton of Dexbots are coming out of the building. They move either left or right after leaving, and they start to surround Tech Square. I also hear them saying, _"We are currently containing the anomaly. Do not proceed past this area. You shall be informed when this situation is resolved."_

Even Dexter himself comes out! OK, I might not mind these odd powers if I'm getting to meet all these awesome people in such a short amount of time. Computress quickly follows. Energy comes off of me again as I get excited, zapping out as bolts of electricity around me. What in the world? I look around and Mom, Jade and Dad are backing up. They hide behind one of the hovercars on the street. Oh, no! I'm putting them in danger!

"Whoa! Whoa! Please calm down!" Blossom says as she and Bubbles grab hold of me to stop me from speeding off somewhere. She's right! I need to make this stop! How do I make this stop? Stop, powers! Stop! **STOP!** OK, good, it looks like that's working, as I'm no longer zapping out bolts randomly. I'm just sparking now. OK, keep calm. Keep calm. I think I understand what's going on. Whenever I become super happy, my powers are unleashed. So what I need to do is to not be happy. But I can't think of anything to make me stop being happy when the Powerpuff Girls and Dexter are so close to me right now.

Mom, Jade and Dad hurry over to Dexter, and ask what to do about this. Dexter says, "This is an interesting occurrence indeed. I will need to run a few tests to determine what's behind it."

"Oh," I moan. Does he mean checkups? I hate checkups. I don't know a kid who doesn't. At that point, I feel the energy go away. A bit of it's still there, but most of it's gone. Seriously, though... Checkups on my birthday, of all the days of the year? Although I guess this will be helpful if they can find out what is going on with me.

"They won't take long, will they?" I ask. "I don't want to miss my birthday party."

"It's your birthday today?" Bubbles asks. I turn to her and nod, and she smiles. "Well, then happy birthday!"

...Bubbles just wished me a happy birthday! **_SHE JUST WISHED ME A-_ ** Oh no, I'm getting excited again, and just like before, energy starts blasting off of me in random directions.

"Bubbles, you made him excited again," Blossom says, a bit annoyed. Dexter takes some sort of device out of his pocket and holds it out. It makes a blue, see-through shield of sorts that protects Dexter, Jade and my parents from my accidental blasts. Blossom and Bubbles continue trying to get me to calm down.

"The tests should not take a long time, Andrew," Dexter says. "You won't miss your party. But I'm going to warn you right now: we might have to do a blood test for one of those."

Wait, WHAT?! They're going to draw blood from me?! No! NO! That's even worse than a normal shot! I remember having to do one a few years ago, and all I remember from it now is pain. Hopefully, they do that thing where you don't feel pain when they do the shot. Of course, I'm now sad again, and I stop sending out blasts.

The Dexbots surround us to take us into Dexlabs. Before I'm brought in, I turn to see Bubbles and Blossom are still there, and Bubbles waves me goodbye. I wave goodbye back, while trying to hold back my excitement, but I think my hair might be standing up. They take me up to this room and do the blood test there. While I do freak out for a moment- OK, more like a half-hour, the numbing stuff they used works amazingly, as I feel pretty much nothing at all. After that, they leave me sitting in a room for a while, and I overhear them talking about stuff a while later. It's a bit hard to hear since they're a good distance away from the closed door between me and them, but some of the more important things I hear are, "Some of his DNA has changed," and "The energy output readings from his cells are off the charts." They're definitely talking about me. When they come back, Dexter says how they've looked at my blood, and that this form of genetic modification is nothing like he's ever seen. Part of me feels a bit honored, while another is a bit concerned. How changed am I? I ask exactly that, and he says, "Drastically."

Dexter then goes on to say how about 99.7% of my DNA is still similar to what it was before, but since I have "billions of nucleotides" in each of my cells, and those nucleotides account for thousands upon thousands of genes, noticeable changes have been made to my genetic code, which have resulted in my powers. Thankfully, he doesn't go completely "science mode" and say things I don't understand, but he does answer if I have a question as to what something means. Dexter also has made an estimation about one of the major changes that happened in my body; Based on what he's seen, he believes that my "dopamine receptors" have been adjusted to produce a type of energy that Dexter has never seen before. The only way he could be sure, though, was if he took a sample from my brain, but he knows that will be hard to do, and that my parents would certainly not agree to it. Yeah, I wouldn't even agree to that. I want to keep all of my brain, thank you very much.

When I ask how the heck I could've gotten these powers, Dexter believes that I may have gotten them on the day Mark went away. From what he said, the energy wave that hit my body when the time machine went through the portal caused my DNA to change. I then ask why my powers only started up now. If the energy from me shows up when I'm happy, then I would've shown signs of that. Maybe I did and I just didn't realize it. But then Dexter informs me how there are some genetic mutations that can remain hidden from DNA tests until they are activated by something. As far as what activates it, I already know the most likely candidate. _The Guardian._

Dexter tells my parents to disregard what he said earlier about me not missing my party. He now says I must not, under any circumstances, have my birthday party today, because he's worried that if I get too happy, I could damage the building or hurt people. "At the very least, wait to have it until I've created something that will decrease the magnitude of any future incident," he says. Jade and I are bummed out by this as well, as we had spent a ton of time getting the party ready, but we know that it's better to have a birthday party later than have one today where things could go horribly wrong.

While I go back to our apartment with Mom and Jade, Dad stays at Dexlabs in case anything happens. When Mom, Jade, and I get home, I decide to just sit in the corner of my room for a while, to make sure I can't possibly do anything. I've known myself well enough to know that the slightest interesting thing will grab my attention, and if that were to happen to me right now, I don't know what could happen. So, to avoid the problem, I'm facing the wall of the least interesting corner of my room and just sitting there, while Jade sits somewhere else in the apartment, where I can't hear her. I've turned my computer and all other electronic things that could distract me off as well, and turned on all the soundproofing for my room. But the silence begins to freak me out. The only time I see anyone in my family is when Mom comes in to bring lunch, and then she leaves right after. I can understand that she doesn't want to excite me too much and cause something else to happen.

As I sit there, I wonder what's going to happen as far as the Kids Next Door is concerned. I've only been an operative for a bit more than a month, and how will I explain these things that have happened to me? Hopefully, they'll understand and let me not get involved in anything KND-related until I can get my powers under control. After that, they might assign me to the **S.O.O.P.E.R.S.** ( **S** quad **O** f **O** peratives **P** ossessing **E** xtraordinary **R** ad **S** ooperpowers). I don't know for sure, but that won't be for a while. Who knows what'll happen?

A bit after 2:00, my Mom comes to deliver news. I turn around to hear what she has to say. She says that Dexter was able to create the portals, and they sent a lot of Dexbot groups in to survey different parts of the dimension the portals led to, but unfortunately, they couldn't find Mark yet. In fact, they found nothing at all but an old piece of paper. From what Dad told her, it wasn't the kind of paper we use today, though. It was made out of a material that was used to make paper thousands of years ago, by an ancient civilization that lived deep in the Twisted Forest. Wait, so whatever it was in that dimension left a paper as a message to us? Was it the Guardian who gave the message? Whether or not that's the case, this is still really interesting.

"Does the paper have anything to do with Mark?" I ask. I want to know the answer to that more than anything right now.

"Yes," Mom says. Within moments, I go from sad to excited. My happiness level soars through the roof, and sparks fly out of my hands and into the carpet floor. OK, I don't want to cause a fire, so I should calm down a bit more. But I'm having trouble trying to find a way to now that I know Mark is mentioned on the paper. Mom tells me I should go into a room where the floor can't catch fire, like the bathroom. As we get up and hurry to the bathroom, a piece of paper suddenly appears in my hands. It's not like it drifted through the window and into my hands. It was more like it teleported. But what's even weirder is that it doesn't look or feel like normal paper. It looks like the paper that the "texts" you see at some history museums are made out of. This is really old paper. On the paper is writing that says:

 _"Mark_ _is alive. And you will see him again."_

This has to be the Guardian! I get excited again, and I jump up and hit the ceiling. OK, I really need to calm down! Thankfully that wasn't as big as last time. Why was the last outburst so huge? Maybe it was because of all the energy stored up before then. I could have been gaining energy in the month or so that my powers were there, but weren't active. At this point, Jade runs into the room. Mom and Jade try their hardest to get me to calm down, and they're able to, though I end up shocking them by accident several times. I hand Mom the paper, containing my excitement as much as I can. I think I burned the paper a bit, as I've left scorch marks where my fingers used to be. But thankfully I didn't burn any of the words, which is the most important thing. Jade also looks at the paper, and they both look at each other with disbelief. Mom leaves the room while Jade helps me keep calm. I overhear Mom calling someone outside the bathroom, and when the call hangs up, she comes back and looks confused out of her mind right now.

"That was at Dexlabs," Mom says. "It was the paper the Dexbots found in that dimension."

OK, now I'm curious. Did the Guardian teleport it out of Dexlabs to here? Is that what happened? Of course, they take it back to Dexlabs, but then an hour later, it appears on the bed in my room. They take the paper away a second time, and it happens again. After this repeats a couple more times, they just give up and let it stay in our apartment. They tell us to notify Dexlabs immediately if any happenings involving the paper take place, though.

* * *

 ** _July 9, 2016 - 11:33 AM_**

The next day, a huge box is brought into our apartment. At first, I don't pay that much attention to it, until Dad says, "Andrew! It's for you!" It turns out that Dexter sent me something that he called a **"SC-1 Energy Insulation Suit"**. He started designing it soon after I had left, and in the letter and manual attached to it, he says that it can absorb most, if not all of the energy I may "radiate" or "expel", store it, and if I need to, I can use it with more control. The manual also says that my suit is very friction-resistant, and so it won't wear or heat up when I move really fast. On top of all this, it can also fit comfortably and even be worn like normal clothing. OK, he's going into science mode again, but I'm still amazed by this. You could say this was a birthday gift from Dexter himself! I don't think any other birthday gift I've ever got could top this. I open that box as fast as I can, and I even accidentally tear the top of the box off, sending it all the way across the apartment and nearly hitting Jade with it.

Once I finally get the suit on, a bit before noon, my whole family and I go to the mirror in the bathroom to see what I look like in it. And I have to say: I look AWESOME. I feel like a superhero wearing his first superhero suit. My parents and Jade all agree on how cool it looks, and that I should thank Dexter the next time I see him. Well, of course I will. Dexter deserves a million thanks! No, a billion thanks! No, INFINITE thanks! Hold on, is there anything bigger? Well, if there is, he deserves that amount of thanks as well!

As we walk out of the bathroom, Jade and I, who are the last to walk out, notice a small bluish glow coming from my the door to my room. I get to the door right before the glow stops, but I know where it came from. The paper. We go to the paper, and most of it's the same, except there's now a number under the words: _"919"._ OK... That's odd. What the heck does that mean? Is it a date? Is it September 19th? Or is something else, like a countdown or something? I don't know, but Mom and Dad need to see this! I call them in and show them, and they're both as confused as Jade and I are.

For most of that day, my parents, Jade and I discuss what the "919" could possibly mean. After a while of thinking, my Dad mentions that it might be counting down the days. So, we use an online date calculator to calculate what 919 days from now would be. The answer turns out to be _"January 14, 2019"_. Wow, that's a long time from now. Actually, 5 days from now, it will actually be two and a half years away. Almost three seasons of Realms will have come out by the time he arrives! OK... if this paper really is counting the days down, it should transition to 918 sometime tomorrow.

The next day, at around 11:45, we get the paper and look at it for a while, because I knew it had happened in the minutes before noon, but I wasn't able to figure out at exactly what time, and I didn't want to miss it. And sure enough, the moment the clock strikes 11:58 AM, the number starts glowing, and the _"919"_ transforms into a _"918"_. OK, somehow this paper _is_ counting down the days, but now that I actually have an idea of when to expect Mark showing up, that makes me all the more excited! So, I tell all my friends, and they're so glad to know when Mark will be showing up, because they couldn't handle the "uncertainty" of what would happen.

* * *

When my birthday party finally came around, on the 12th, I decided that I would not say that the suit I got was made by Dexter, as I felt that would make everyone else think their gifts weren't that good. I just pretended that it was something that I got for the party. What happened involving me on my actual birthday had gone viral very quickly, and so all my friends were a bit concerned at first, but when I didn't seem to cause that many issues, they got more comfortable. During that party, I notice how effective this suit really is. Despite getting super excited many times during the party, there was not one major outburst of energy.

When it came close to 11:58, I ran to my room, grabbed the paper and got back to the main room in time to show everybody the number change in action. Evan caught it on camera, and when it got uploaded to the Internet, it went viral immediately. I should note: Evan and his friends' channels got a TON of attention after the Project Future thing happened, so their following grew much larger very fast. Then the magical paper comes around and Evan's video of it skyrocketed their channels even higher.

And as for the portals that Dexter made... He continued to send more and more Dexbot squads through, each turning up with no results. He kept going until Planet Fusion arrived, and then he had to focus more on helping the Earth hold off this threat. Then, he decided to adapt the technology into what are now known as "Warp Gates", which allow allow travel in and out of Infected Zones.

And about the power suit... It turns out I would wear that suit a lot of the time, whether it be just doing normal things at my house, playing with friends, or even while sleeping every now and then. It was really comfortable. Even after I figured out how to control my powers more, I still wore it a good amount of the time. As for controlling my powers, I even managed to figure out how to activate them willingly no matter what emotion I felt, although when I was happy, my powers were strongest. I have noticed it's a bit easier using my powers with the suit than without, and Dexter helped train me on how to use it, which was really, really cool. I tried to show them off at show-and-tell when school started the next day, and even though it kinda went wrong and all my classmates were scared of me for a while, my friends thought it was cool. Despite the fact that having powers is AWESOME, I still don't know why they were given to me. I know _the Guardian_ must have had something to do with this, and I think he was the one to give me those powers. If so, he must have had a reason. From what I've seen, the Guardian doesn't seem like someone who would do something for no particular reason at all. I'm sure it'll all come together at some point.

* * *

 _ **Mark - January 14, 2019 - 4:27 PM**_

"Oh, that's right!" Andrew says. "Mark, I'll get you some of your stuff! And I'll show you my cool suit and that paper!"

"Wait, Andrew, you don't need to-" I try to say, but before I can finish the sentence, Andrew is gone. He just ran off faster than I've ever seen him run. That's got to be at least 20 feet from this platform to the hallway I came from, but he cleared that in just a few seconds. For a moment, he even left a trail of energy behind him too. So I guess one of his powers is super speed or something? Well, in that case, Andrew got lucky, because if I could choose a superpower to have, super speed would definitely be in the top 3. The fact Andrew has powers now, though, is still odd for me. In less than a minute, Andrew shows up again, running up to me with a few things. Once Andrew stops, I can actually tell what they are. The biggest one of them is my hoverboard, but he's also got... He's got the necklace.

A few years after I got that really large emerald-like crystal from Bravo Beach, Jade had the idea of making things from bits of it. I got my friends and we talked about it, and we thought it'd be really cool to make pendants out of pieces of the emerald for my friends, Andrew and I. Well, only the main piece hanging from the chain would be made out of the emerald. Jade carved about 8 small, circular, thin pieces off of the emerald using her diamond claws, but the emerald was big enough that there was still a lot left. Jade told me how initially, she thought of carving some sort of pattern on the center of each pendant and then filling it in with her crystals, but she didn't know what to carve. She ended up carving an infinity symbol into the center. Why exactly she did that she herself doesn't even know: she told me that it just came to her. Still, the symbol makes it look really cool, and you could even say that it represents how strong the bond I have with my family and friends is. It's _infinitely_ strong. The pendant even became the emblem for our channel group, too.

It's funny: the one day I forgot to wear the necklace, all this crazy stuff happened. It's not the first time it's happened. I nearly forgot to wear it on the day Buttercup went missing, too. Andrew hands me back the pendant, and it seems to be almost completely untouched. I move my finger along the infinity symbol, and I can feel the difference between the emerald and Jade's crystals. The emerald part gleams oddly every now and then, too.

"Thanks," I say, as I put the necklace on. I look up to Andrew and... Wow. That's a cool-looking suit. It's mostly dark red, but there's a lot more detail than that. It looks like it has experienced a lot of wear and tear, too. On the shirt, there's a thick, turquoise vertical line going up almost all the way up the shirt. There are three thinner, vertical, turquoise lines on each side of the main line that gradually get shorter. Also, there are lines that are going between the larger vertical lines that show some sort of circuit pattern. However, it looks like a huge group of claws had torn through the shirt, but not enough to tear it apart, but leave three clearly distinct tears in it. The right sleeve looks heavily scratched up, and in some places it's torn open completely. As for the left sleeve, it is way more intact, but there are some smaller tears in it as well. Most of the sleeve is orange, especially around the forearm, while the cuffs are white. At some points of the cuffs, there are small metallic circles that look like they have openings. I think that they are designed to expel energy. The pants are mostly dark red as well, except on each of the outer sides, there's a thick, orange... I think it's called a chevron shape, pointed upward. Below that is an open diamond shape of the same color, width and thickness, with the Dexlabs symbol inside. There are numerous scratches, tears and even small claw marks on the pants as well.

"Sorry that it looks a bit damaged," Andrew says. "A lot of stuff has happened to it over these last couple years."

"That's fine, it still looks cool," I say, causing Andrew to smile again. "Although, what did you do to get the suit that messed up?"

"I... uh... I kinda fought a few monsters, and a Fusion."

"Wait, seriously?" I ask. He fought a Fusion? OK, why would he pick a fight with one of them? Well, maybe he didn't have a choice but to fight. Regardless, I'm glad he's OK. "What Fusion did you fight?"

"It was a Fusion of Gumball, actually. I wasn't able to kill him, though. He's still out there, I believe... Oh, right! Mark! You want to see that paper?"

"Yeah, show me," I say. Andrew takes the rolled up piece of paper he was holding and hands it to me. Immediately, I can understand what Andrew meant when he said that the paper looked and felt nothing like normal paper. I think it might be papyrus paper, or something similar. Only three words are written on the paper:

 _"He has arrived."_

This is... very interesting. I still find it odd how the Guardian left a paper that counted down the days. However, I am glad that the Guardian was able to keep Andrew calm in regards to my whereabouts. A few seconds after I read the three large words in the center, I think I see something else on it. It's very hard to see, but I think I see a person in some sort of robe inscribed onto the paper. Right when I see that, though, the paper itself starts glowing a bright white, before just vanishing. It's gone. We're both confused and startled by this, because it happens within just a few moments. What happened to it? Where did it go?

"W-what?" I say. "Where... where did it..."

"I don't know!" Andrew says. "Maybe... maybe now that you've seen the paper, the Guardian decided to take it back."

"I saw something else on the paper, though!"

"Wait, what'd you see?"

"I... I thought I saw a faint drawing of a person."

"Wait, what? What'd the person look like?"

"Well, I didn't really see it for that long. I think it was wearing some sort of robe, though."

"You OK, Mark?" I hear Evan ask from behind me. I turn around and all my friends are peering through the doorway. Jade is there, too, as well as Gumball and those two others. I still haven't actually met them yet.

"Yeah, I'm OK," I say. "I just... I didn't feel like being there at the moment."

"Yeah, we understand," Evan says. "I wouldn't like it if all those people were staring at me either."

"Well, we made sure they would not do that the next time you show up," Amanda says.

"Still, I don't know if I'll be comfortable there yet," I say. "Are there any other places we could hang out?"

I look back to Andrew, and then around the place we're at. Nobody else is here. You know what? Maybe this should be our new hangout spot! I remember that when I was a KND operative with all my friends, we had a hangout spot in the TV room, but the one thing that irked me about that place was that there was a bit too much noise from all the other operatives. Here, there's no sign of anyone on this specific platform, and there are lots and lots of platforms and balconies on this Treehouse. Also, this kinda works really well. There are lots of leaves and branches above us, meaning this specific balcony should have shadows cast on it almost all the time. There's also a nice view that shows us some of Sector V, the distant Fusion Matter ocean and possibly even the sunset. While all my friends are thinking of where they could be, I say, "Actually, we could hang out here!"

"You think so?" Evan says, before looking around the place a bit. "I guess that works."

When another KND operative passes by, Evan asks if anyone hangs out at this area. The operative shrugs, saying that she hasn't seen anyone at this area that she knows of.

"Well, then," Evan says, turning to us. "This is officially our meet-up spot now!"

"Alright, cool," I say, as we start to form our own little circle. Andrew stays next to me on the bench while Jade sits on my right. All my other friends form a semi-circle, the diameter of which is the width of the bench. From left to right, the people there are in this order: The fairy, Gumball, the bunny, Amanda, Evan and Lucas. Hold on a second. I haven't even been formally introduced to the bunny and fairy.

"Hey, um, Gumball?" I ask.

"Yeah?" Gumball replies back.

"Who are those two?" I ask, looking momentarily at the fairy and bunny.

"Oh, yeah!" Gumball says, before turning to the fairy. "Mark, this is my girlfriend, Penny."

"Hello," Penny says. I also say, "Hello," back. Gumball then turns to the bunny and says, "And this is my sister, Anais."

Of course, I'm confused for a moment. I mean, a rabbit and cat being siblings? But since they are from Elmore, where the laws of reality have tended to be a bit more lenient there, I give it a pass. Why are the laws of reality lenient in that specific area? Nobody is sure what caused this to happen, but there have been a couple theories. One theory in particular said how there was a slightly higher concentration of Imaginary Energy (which is what creates Imaginary Friends) in the area than in most parts of the world, and that Imaginary Friends may have had something to do with it. But unless we go back in time and find out what happened then, the full origins of Elmore remain a mystery.

After Anais and I say "Hello" to each other, I notice a few interesting things about her. At one point when her ears are raised, I see a vertical scar in her left ear that goes straight through. Once I see it, I quickly wonder what happened that caused it. Was it another Fusion encounter, or something else? There's a doll that Anais is holding, as well. It looks like a pink donkey with a yellow muzzle that looks like a smiley face. The ends of the doll's arms and legs are yellow, too, and the colors are as bright as the amount of stitches that are on the doll.

Andrew then tells me, "Hey! You want to know something cool about Penny?"

"Yeah, sure," I say, before turning to Penny. "What is it?"

"Well..." Penny pauses for a moment. Wait, is this supposed to be a secret? But I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable! Penny still tells me, "I can shapeshift."

Wait, really? She can shapeshift? She can shapeshift... That was not at all what I was expecting. I thought Penny was going to tell me about some sort of thing that she likes to do. But shapeshifting? That's AWESOME!

"Wait, really? So... so you could shapeshift right now?" I ask, my curiosity level having spiked. Andrew and I have some similar personality traits, but the most clear trait we share is that we both can be really curious about stuff. So when I learn that someone I've recently met can shapeshift, of course I'll want to know more about that.

"Well, it's not exactly voluntary," Penny says. "The shapeshifting is based off of my emotions at the time, but sometimes I have been able to do it willingly. Those are usually few and far between, though."

"Still, though, that's really cool," I say. "What forms can you transform into?"

"Well, it's not exactly easy to experiment, but there are many forms I have transformed into before."

"Yeah, we've seen her transform a few times," Amanda says. "The craziest form we've seen her transform into, though, was when she turned into a dragon."

OK, this is interesting. I hope that at some point, I can see Penny shapeshift, because that would be cool to see. I probably will see that eventually. Maybe... In all honesty, I don't know how long I'll be here. I could be here a few days, a few weeks, maybe months... Hopefully, at best, we'll be able to get the materials and build the time machine so that I can come back within only days. The less time I stay in this future, the better.

"Hey, Andrew, you're wearing that power suit again!" Gumball says.

"Yeah, but the scratch that Cyberus left has kinda made it a lot harder to use well," Andrew says.

"I could try stitching that up," Anais says. "What materials did it use again?"

"I remember Dexter said it used... uh... conductive fibers? At least I think the inner layer of it was. Then there was an insulator layered between the outer materal and the conductive fiber... I think. I'm not sure. Hold on, I'll get the thing describing it."

Andrew zooms off again, leaving another trail of bright energy for a moment. In almost a minute, he comes back again, with a manual for something. That's got to be the manual for the suit. He hands the manual to Anais, saying that this should describe everything she'll need to help repair the suit. After that, I tell my friends, old and new, what happened after I had first shown up, such as me being chased by the Tech Wing, finding the transmitter and everything in between. I also remember to show them the photos I had taken during my trip through Steam Alley, including the graffiti the Guardian had left to guide me to the transmitter. I guess Evan and my other friends told Gumball, Anais and Penny about the Guardian, as they don't react with confusion like my friends did when I first told them about "the glowing person that I see every so often".

"Wait! I just thought of something!" Evan says. "We should all take a group photo, to celebrate Mark being back! What do you guys think?"

"We should totally do that!" Andrew says.

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Gumball says.

"I'm down with that," Lucas adds on.

"So am I," Jade says.

"OK, let's do it!" Evan says, rather excited now. "Whose phone should we use?"

"We can use my phone," I say. "Then when I go back, I can share it with you guys."

"Oh, OK. But we can't do it here, then. We need to find somewhere that doesn't look remotely like a Kids Next Door place."

Yeah, Evan has a point. If we were to take that photo here, it'd be odd for anyone who didn't know about the KND for us to be taking a photo on a wooden balcony with a giant ship next to it. That's a pretty big red flag.

"Well, where should we take it, then?" Penny asks.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," Evan says as he starts pacing the platform. We all decide to start thinking as well of where to go to take the photo. Well, it'd be a bit of a pain to have to do the photo in somewhere that wasn't the KND treehouse. I don't know if it's worth all the effort of spending hours finding the perfect place to take a photo.

"You know, we don't have to do it now," I say.

"But we should do it today, though."

"Not if it will take too much effort at this point in time. Besides, we should just hang out and not make a big deal out of wanting to take a group photo. I mean, we've just gotten together as a group again after over two and a half years."

"I guess Mark has a point," Lucas says. "Yeah, the photo should come later."

"Wait, I have an idea," Andrew says. "We can take a photo here, but the one Mark can show us when he goes back can be another one that's taken later."

"That could work, too," Evan says. "But you'll have to be absolutely sure not to give the one of us here away."

"I'll make sure not to," I say. "So, let's take that photo!"

While a bit reluctant, Evan agrees, and we start planning where we're going to be. All my friends agree that since I'm the main focus, I should be in the center. Andrew should definitely be next to me, and Gumball, Anais and Penny will be next to Andrew. Evan then decides that in the photo, he'll be casually lying down on his hoverboard while looking at the camera. Jade will be floating in front of us, between me and Andrew. I'll have my Lightning Gun out, of course. After all, it's a Dexlabs prototype, not a Kids Next Door weapon, so we should be good on that front. I can just say to anyone who asks that I got that from Dexter while I was in the Future. Amanda and Lucas will be behind Evan. Anais will be in front of Gumball, still holding that doll. Once we get all our positions in the photo figured out, Andrew and I set my phone upright on the KND bench in the horizontal position, before I run back to my position in the photo. Andrew tells us that he's going to have the phone take multiple photos, so we can get a bunch and pick the best for us to show. He activates the timer, then a few seconds later, he zooms behind us and to his position in the photo. The place gets a little chilly as we hear the shutter sound I put on my phone to indicate the photo's been taken. Then we hear it again. And again.

We hear the phone make that noise a few more times before it stops. I think it took around eight or so photos. Once the noise stops, we all run to the phone to see what photos we got. I get the phone and go to the photos listed on it. There are indeed eight new photos, all of which are our group photo just now. We scroll through the photos, all of which are really good, but I want to make sure there's none where someone's eyes are closed. Thankfully, we find one, which is one of the earlier photos. Even though Amanda and Lucas look a tiny bit unfocused, we still agree that the photo looks awesome, even though we won't be able to share it with each other.

"Well, there's one person I could share it with," I say, looking to Evan.

"That would still be too risky," Evan says. "You'd be under constant observation by the Kids Next Door due to the **M.O.N.I.T.A.H.** "

M.O.N.I.T.A.H.? Oh, yeah, I remember that. It stands for " **M** onitoring **O** peratives **N** ewly **I** nitiated **T** o **A** void **H** ugeproblems". It was designed to do as the acronym suggests: to observe recently commissioned operatives to make sure they didn't leak anything to the wrong people. A few weeks after I first became a member of the Kids Next Door, I found out they had set up cameras all over my house, to monitor me and make sure I didn't tell anyone about the Kids Next Door that shouldn't know, like my parents. I never told my parents, but Jade had caught on to it a few times. I can recall several different situations in which I had to erase her memory of something she shouldn't have seen. Thankfully, the Kids Next Door later allowed Jade to know about it, as long as she followed the same rules I did. I'm pretty sure she also got decommissioned when I was.

At one point, they removed all the cameras and put them elsewhere to throw me off their tracks. I remember that for each new house I went to, the KND put cameras in certain spots, like peeking through a hole in a corner in my living room's ceiling. Whenever someone found the cameras but wasn't supposed to know about them, they'd flood the place with the memory-erasing gas and relocate all the cameras. I also heard the policy was even more extreme if the new member had a sibling who used to be in the Kids Next Door. Given that I'll hopefully be coming back soon after I left, which should be very soon after Andrew becomes an operative, I probably won't be able to do anything like looking through these group photos. They'd certainly find out, and they might even try to decommission me. I'll have to look at the KND-involved photos as sparingly as possible.

We look over the photo for a while, remarking how cool some things are. For example, Andrew zooming into the photo caused a gust of wind that makes it look like we're all in the middle of a really windy place, as our hair is blowing to the right. This is so cool. It looks almost like an action movie poster. All we need now is the title, a phrase, a date and that usual information at the bottom saying what the main cast and other important people in making the movie are.

"This is so cool," Andrew says. "I wish Aidan could've been in this."

"Yeah..." Evan says. "He probably would've loved it."

We're all silent for a moment, before we begin to reminisce on things Aidan did. One of the best examples is that a couple years ago, we were exploring the streets near Tokyo Townsville during some sort of celebration. We didn't know much of what it was about at first, but from what information we could get, there was a powerful, evil deity that had existed thousands of years ago. He had originated from this dark forest and had enslaved the land for years, before a powerful warrior came and defeated the evil, freeing his people and saving their lives at presumably the cost of his own, as the legend said the warrior was nowhere to be found afterward. Apparently, Aidan brought this HUGE firecracker with him, and when we lit that up, it launched far up into the sky and made it as bright as day for a moment. We had no idea where Aidan got it and what it had inside it, but the explosion in the air made car alarms all around us go off that night. We, of course, got out of that area before more people showed up, but it was awesome. From the "Trash Can Incident of 2012" to the ultimate prank gone wrong, we continue to reminisce about things that happened before Project Future (most of them involving Aidan in some way) until around 5:30. This is when Numbuh Two shows up.

"Hey, guys!" Numbuh Two says from the entrance to the platform. "I brought pizza!"

"What?" Evan asks, looking amazed. "You didn't!"

"I did," Numbuh Two says. I turn around and he's holding five pizza boxes. These pizza boxes are all rather large, meaning they might be extra large pizzas. I've just realized how much energy I've used today. In the last 5 and 1/2 hours, I've ran long distances, fought many different kinds of monsters, and nearly died several times. I used up a lot of energy, and combining that fact with me thinking about pizza now has made me more hungry than I think I have been in a long time. I need to get energy back. I need to eat.

"No way! You got a Deluxe pizza?" Lucas asks. I look to the pizza boxes, and on the side of one, I can see the clear word "Deluxe". "H-how did you know that I-"

"No, no, this one's for me," Numbuh Two says. "The others are for you guys."

"Oh... Alright, that's fine."

"How did you get these?" I ask. I mean, I know the Kids Next Door tends to make certain things, like candy, a higher priority, but have they still made those a priority in a world-ending situation like this? I guess that would make sense. They would probably panic to get as much as the stuff they like as possible. After all, the Kids Next Door isn't like the military due to it being organized by kids. But many of the people I've seen here aren't all young kids. They range from around 10 to at least late teens! They must have recommissioned a lot of people, as well as probably formed a truce with the Teen Ninjas. Still, even teenagers can get their priorities a little mixed up.

"Oh, I just ordered these from the Pokey Oaks mall," Numbuh Two says. Wait, that huge mall in Pokey Oaks is still around? There are still pizza makers around? Wouldn't the resources to make pizzas still be super scarce now? I don't know how things could be farmed in this environment. Who knows? I definitely don't, and given all the crazy things that have happened today, I'm not even sure if I should question anything at this point.

Numbuh Two then passes out the four other pizza boxes to us, as well as some paper plates. I can smell the ultra-deliciousness through the box, and I can't wait to eat it. Before Numbuh Two leaves, though, he can't help but give off another pun. When we thanked him profusely, he said, "You're welcome. Don't worry: I won't give you guys a bunch of pizza puns right now. They'd be _cheesy_ anyway."

Once we know Numbuh Two is not going to come back and make any more pizza puns, we dig in, and this pizza tastes really, really good. I can't tell if it's just that I haven't had that much stuff up to it or this pizza just is that good, but regardless, I'm so glad I'm having it. Some of us, particularly Evan and I, are having a bit more pizza than the rest, due to the energy we used up recently during that battle.

"Hold on, do any of you guys want drinks?" Andrew asks. All of us raise our hands. I'm just as thirsty as I am hungry, so I won't mind something to drink. After all, the only actual drink I had was during the search for the transmitter. When Andrew asks what we want, most of us choose some type of soda, but I don't. I don't really want soda right now. I simply want water right now. Andrew zooms off once more, and not that long after, comes back with a bunch of soda cans and glasses of water or juice. He passes them out to us, and once we're all sitting down again, we start eating again.

Hold on, I have an idea. We all have some sort of drink, right? I check everyone in our group circle, and yeah, we all do. Before anyone can drink theirs, I catch everyone's attention, and say, "Guys, I know what to do. Let's have a toast." Everyone gets their cans or glasses, holds them in front of themselves, and I initiate the toast:

"Here's to Aidan... Although you may be gone today, you're still here with us. We won't forget all the funny and cool things you've done... and here's to making sure that I can go back and make sure you, Chris, John and everyone else we've lost can survive the second time around."

We then all take our drinks, and continue having our pizza. That was such a nice experience. In that moment, I felt a sense of hope, the hope that I can return to the past and fix as much as I can. I want to make sure that the world I'm in right now won't happen, so I'll fight the Fusions as much as possible. After so many bad things I've experienced over these last few hours, things are starting to feel bright again. I've reunited with my surviving friends, made new ones, and ultimately feel like things are going to be OK. And although we're not sure exactly what we're going to do, one thing is clear: we're back together again, and we're going to try as hard as we can to change the course of this war.

* * *

 _ **G - ∞**_

 _Now you are motivated._


	10. Heroes

**_[BEGIN VOLUME 2.]_**

* * *

 _ **Mark - January 15, 2019 - 5:03 AM**_

On one side of the Treehouse's hangar, there are five big, metal doors, each one having a large red number painted on them, ranging from 1 to 5. The passages beyond these doors lead to the rooms of Sector V's commanding operatives: Numbuhs One, Two, Three, Four and Five. My friends and I are actually in one of those rooms; Numbuh One's room, to be exact. We were put in here to make sure I was safe at all times, as the commanding operatives' rooms are much more fortified and can withstand a lot more than regular rooms in this Treehouse, with only a few exceptions, like the vault. And when you add that operatives regularly guard these rooms, I'm as safe as I can be in this place. At first, it was only me who was going to be in the room, but my friends and Andrew convinced Numbuh Two to have them in there as well.

After what happened yesterday, it was pretty much guaranteed that I wouldn't have a peaceful sleep. My dreamland was now a place of unending nightmares. First, I was stuck in darkness, with those same red eyes that I've seen before chasing me. Next, there was a dream where I was at first in a bright area with several of my friends, but then darkness started consuming them one by one before it swallowed up everything. Then there was one where I was being chased through a dark hallway by something and I ended up falling into Fusion Matter. The worst one, though, was when I had to relive that moment where Aidan was killed by Fusion Buttercup, but it was on repeat, and it got worse every time. In fact, when I woke up from that one, I screamed so loud I woke up everyone in this room, and the operatives guarding my room, as well as those is nearby rooms, came in to make sure I was OK. Thankfully, I don't wake up filled with fear this time.

After I wake up, I lie there for a while, glad that it wasn't a nightmare that woke me up this time. As I stare through the large skylight on the ceiling, I can see the branches above swaying slightly, as well as some of the night sky. But the light coming onto the Treehouse from the sky is a very slight shade of green. That's odd... Maybe it's because of Planet Fusion or something. As I lie there, I think once again about everything that has happened, and everything that may happen in the future. I am very hopeful that I'll able to get back in one piece, and it shouldn't take long for me to get back to the past. Then again, nothing always goes according to plan. I can just hope that this will be one of the times it does because as I said, the less time I'm in this time, the better.

I get my NanoCom and activate it to see what time it is. After the holographic screen loads up and my eyes adjust to the light, I can see **"5:12 AM"**. Dang, it's really early. I ponder whether or not to go back to sleep, but I know the risk that I could have yet another waking nightmare, given the several times it's happened last night. And it's so close to morning anyway that I might as well just start my day now.

I begin sitting up, but I still feel achy and sore all over from everything I did yesterday. As I do so, I try as hard as I can not to wake up Jade, who's sleeping next to me on the bed. I also make sure to look what side of the bunk bed I need to get off on, because I'm on the top and I don't want to fall off, especially onto the hard, wooden floor. All my friends are in bunk beds, actually. We organized ours so that they would be facing each other with the ladders all on the outer sides, and we'd have our own "friend square" in the middle of all the bunk beds where we hang out. It's not completely closed in, though. We have plenty of space to get out without having to climb over a bunk bed.

Lucas's sleeping on the bottom bunk of my bunk bed. In the bunk bed opposite ours, Evan is sleeping on the bottom bunk and Amanda is on the top bunk. She and Evan had played Rock-Paper-Scissors over who'd get the top bunk, and Amanda ended up winning that game. Well, it was a stalemate for a moment, but her paper defeated his rock in the end.

As for the bunk beds adjacent to mine, the one on the left side (or the side my pillow is on) has Andrew on the top bunk. Gumball is sleeping on the bottom bunk of the bed. And as for the bunk bed on my right, Penny is sleeping on the bottom bunk, and it's in this darkness that I notice she gives off a faint glow that's not bright enough to make it hard to sleep, but still noticeable. Anais is on the top bunk, holding on to her doll still. She told me that it was "Daisy the Donkey", and Gumball added on that she is about as much of a fan of Daisy as Andrew is a fan of the Powerpuff Girls. Now, I've rarely heard of anyone having as much dedication and love for something as Andrew has for the Powerpuffs. The only other one I can think of is Lucas and his admiration of the Gangreen Gang because he goes to almost all their concerts.

OK, so what should I do now? I'm already awake, and I know I won't be able to sleep. But none of the other people in this room are awake. I'm in the "early morning" phase of a slumber party, where if you wake up early and everyone else is asleep, and you can't do much without accidentally waking other people up, and so everything is quiet. That phase usually doesn't end until 3 or 4 others are awake, at which point we would all get sick of having to wait for every single person to wake up and just do it ourselves. But when Andrew started getting involved in our slumber parties, he'd just start waking everyone up as soon as he did because he just wanted to get to the fun immediately. And since the earliest time I've seen Andrew wake up normally is at around 6:00 AM, I have around 45 minutes or so to wait around until today can really start.

I slowly lift the covers off me, making sure that Jade doesn't wake up as I do it. I start climbing down the ladder and get to the floor. Thankfully, nobody wakes up from this either. Once I'm on the floor, my eyes adjust to the dark, allowing me to navigate it more easily. There's a group of large, wooden crates near a corner of the room, close to the exit. On each one of the crates is one of our names: **"MARK"** , **"ANDREW"** , **"LUCAS"** , etc., so that we can tell whose stuff is in what crate. There is one exception, though; it's a slightly bigger crate with the word **"PAINTINGS"** painted on it.

Before I went to sleep last night, I had put my Lightning Gun and necklace on top of my crate. A slight glow is also coming from the area in my Lightning Gun where you can see the amount of energy within it, and some of the light is causing my pendant to gleam a bit too. This makes it easier to find my specific crate. I still haven't used my Lightning Gun since Andrew re-filled it with his powers. It's still weird for me that my brother has those. On one hand, it's cool, and he always dreamed of having powers and he got to meet a lot of the people he looks up to as a result, but on the other hand, his life had lost a good amount of its normality. It's like when Ben 10 got the Omnitrix: His life went from normal to completely extraordinary the moment he got it.

I kneel down in front of the crate and open it, beginning my search. A fair amount of stuff in here, such as my hoverboard, as well as clothing, toys, puzzles, my video game systems and games to go with them. I carefully take things out to make sure that nothing can accidentally fall and land on the floor because I know that would wake everyone up. Even though that happening would make things a lot more convenient on my end, I'm not gonna do that. After a bit of digging, I find the game case for _"Heroic Battles II"_. Despite having played it only yesterday for me, I still feel an odd sense of nostalgia. Yeah, I can see us playing this again. It's a bit crazy when you can have things as high as 10-player free-for-alls. Thankfully, there are maps big enough to support all that craziness. My friends, Andrew and Jade and I would do that all the time. And if every one of my friends plays, including my newest friends, we can have 9-player games like I had before all this. That'll be cool.

I look at the multitude of TVs that cover the wall on the side of the room across from the exit. I know there's got to be something in this room that allows me to plug my game system into the TV and play the game. As I pass by the rest of the crates with the game system, something piques my curiosity. What are the paintings in there? Why is there a whole crate dedicated specifically to them? I didn't notice it before due to all the other things I was doing with my friends, but with no other distractions, this just raises a ton of questions. I'm going to take a peek. It's not like I could ruin the paintings by opening the crate. I put the game case down, head to the crate, and like with my crate, slowly open it.

The first painting I see is what looks like a family portrait, but obviously homemade. I can see Gumball and Anais, but there are more people in the photo as well. The most noticeable is a big, pink, anthropomorphic rabbit in the center. There's also another blue, anthropomorphic cat, who's almost as tall as the rabbit when not accounting for its ears. These have to be Gumball and Anais' parents. I assume that the rabbit is the father and the cat is the mother because the mother cat has clearly visible eyelashes in the painting, while the father doesn't. But there's one other family member, between Anais and Gumball in the painting. It's an orange fish. It's obviously not a pet because it's not in a fish bowl or anything. It seems like it can breathe oxygen fine. What's even crazier is that it's huge in terms of size, as it's almost as tall as Gumball. This includes the fact that the fish seems to have LEGS. Actual, legitimate legs that could allow it to walk around. I'm gonna ask Gumball who he is sometime after he wakes up. Hopefully, he'll be OK with me having looked through here.

I get ready to put the painting back in, and when I look into the crate, I see another painting. But this one is much more confusing. It's a painting that shows Gumball, but also Andrew and myself. This is right when I first met Gumball after reuniting with Andrew in the hangar. Who painted this? And when? Was it one of my friends? I've never really known anybody of our friend group to paint except for John. I mean, Evan does edit images for video thumbnails, but he doesn't actually paint things. Was it Gumball, then? I have no idea. I would think more about it, but I hear somebody gasp behind me, which stops me from moving any further. I turn around and see that Gumball is sitting up, staring straight at me. and even through the darkness, I can feel that he's a bit tense right now.

"Mark, is that you?" Gumball whispers.

"Yeah," I whisper back. "Don't worry, I'm alright."

Gumball sighs. "Sorry about that. It's just... I thought something else was here."

"What else did you think would be here?"

"It's... Never mind. It's fine." Gumball starts slowly getting out of his bed and heading over to where I am. Uh-oh. I don't know if he'll be mad for looking through this crate. I quickly try to put the painting back in the crate, but I'm not able to do it in time. "What are you trying to look for that's in there?"

"Sorry. I was curious as to what could have been in there."

"Hmm... I guess I can't blame you." Gumball looks at the family portrait. "...You're wondering who they are?"

"Well, I know the other cat and rabbit have to be your parents, but I don't know about the fish." Gumball chuckles as he walks over to the portrait. I put it down for a second to allow him to see it more easily. He looks at it with remembrance and sighs with a slight smile on his face.

"That's Darwin... He was my brother. Well, not by blood, but we were so close we might as well have been. We were not only brothers, but the greatest of friends. I mean, we were virtually inseparable. We did all sorts of things together, and we'd always end up in these crazy scenarios. I miss those days, before... the Fusions showed up.

"You want to know something about Darwin? He wasn't always like that. When I first got him, he didn't have legs or anything that would allow him to live on land. He could understand us and talk, though, and after another one of the many misunderstandings that happen in Elmore, he first talked in front of my parents when we trying to take a photo with him. They freaked out, he flew out of the bowl, and he accidentally got flushed down the toilet. Even though my parents tried to help me move on, there was a connection I had with Darwin which was stronger than almost anything I had ever seen. And even though Darwin was who-knows-how-far away from us, that connection, that love... It was still there. It was so strong it literally allowed him to evolve and grow lungs, legs, and the like."

"So... he evolved through love?"

"Yes."

I'm silent for a moment. I would normally try to process how that would work, but honestly, compared to physics-defying matter, time portals, Fusion doppelgangers and a slew of other things, this is barely anything. I feel like I'm slowly starting to get desensitized to weird stuff. Maybe I'll reach a point where I meet a talking balloon or something, and barely get fazed by it. Heck, Elmore probably has one of those somewhere.

"And he was able to get back, right?" I ask, wanting to hear more.

"Yeah, of course. You know, we were just about to get another fish when I felt the connection again. I don't really know for sure what it was, and I can't exactly put it in words, but I just _knew_ he was close. I ran out of the pet store and the front of the mall, where I saw him across the parking lot. And as we ran to each other and hugged, that connection became stronger than ever. And the rest is history: we were best buddies ever since I knew him, up until..."

And immediately the mood changes from nostalgic to somber. And like with the many other times yesterday, his lack of saying anything gives me the answer.

"...What happened?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it. It's better that way."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"No, it's fine. I just... If you're going to go home soon, then we shouldn't burden you with it."

Gumball gets up and starts walking back to his bed as I put the family painting back in the crate and put the lid back on. I feel like there's definitely something more to this than Gumball's letting on. _Maybe a lot more._ When I turn back, Gumball is looking down at the game case for _Heroic Battles II_ with a smile on his face.

"That game's fun, right?" I ask him.

"Heck yeah, it is! Andrew and I have had tons of fun with it. You're thinking of playing that one?"

"Sure, why not? What about the others, though?"

"I don't know. Want me to wake 'em up?"

"What? N-no. You don't have to do that."

"I'm not going to scream or anything. All I was gonna do was-"

While Gumball turns around, his arm accidentally knocks the Lightning Gun off the crate, causing it to land on the wooden floor with a loud thud. Even though that didn't seem to be intentional, it still proves effective in waking everyone up. Some wake up with a simple "Huh?" while others get up instantly and focus directly on us. Evan already has his THUMPER in his hands, but I think a normal teddy bear is loaded in there, so all it'd do is disorient me for a few seconds. But I also noticed something interesting where Penny was. Before, the part I could see of her that wasn't underneath covers was a dim, glowing yellow. Now, I don't see anything anymore. There is something small underneath the covers, though. Did she shapeshift?

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, guys!" Gumball says, tensing up again. He puts his hands up, and in the tense moment, I look back and forth between the rest of my friends and Gumball. I notice there's a scar on Gumball's right palm that has yet to completely fade. As for the rest of our friends who hae weapons, they thankfully calm down and put them down. Then Penny peeks out from under the covers. She looks like a mouse now, but she doesn't have fur. In fact, her "skin" seems to be the same even after shapeshifting, except the color and glow have changed to dark purple. In front of the mouse ears she has, she's also got the same antlers, but they've been scaled to be smaller. After calming down a bit, I see her transform back into the form I've seen her in before. It happens so fast that all I can really see of her while she transforms is just a blur that changes color from purple to yellow.

"No, it's... it's cool," Evan says. "Well, if you were trying to wake us up, it worked."

"Was that intentional?" I ask Gumball, to which he shakes his head. Well, I guess now that everyone's up, it does bypass that aforementioned phase where everything is awkward. And now that everyone's up, we can get to the fun much sooner than before. I check the time on my NanoCom again and it says **"5:24 AM"**. Well, it's so close to the morning anyway, we might as well begin our day, or my first new day in this future.

We decide to hang out in the room for a while, using one of the several TVs on one side of the room to play video games. A lot of us choose to play _Heroic Battles II_ like I hoped to, and peer pressure brings the rest of them in. A bit before 6:00 AM, we can start to hear some commotion. Some of the early birds have awakened, and soon enough, everyone will be awake because of the alarm. But it isn't any ordinary alarm. And sure enough, right as the clock hits 6:30 AM, an ice cream truck sound plays throughout the entire Treehouse. Moments later, the base springs to life. Alright, I think it's time to leave this room. By this point, none of us are tired anymore, and we're ready to go out into the new world. But we'll first finish the round we're in the middle of. Only 4 people are left: Gumball, Penny, Andrew and Amanda. In this game, Penny and Gumball have chosen to team up to fight Amanda and Andrew, who are Dexter and Bubbles, respectively. Andrew's almost always played Bubbles if he's not playing random characters. At the end of the round, though, Andrew wins the battle.

Now that we're done playing the game, it's time to go. We turn off the game, get up and walk across the room to the hallway that leads to the hangar. Even though it's been only minutes since the alarm went off, some operatives are already in the hangar, getting ready to do things. As we're standing there, thinking of what to do, I think I see someone in my peripheral vision, looking down at us from the upper level. I glance over there to see what it is, but it dashes off before I can get a good look at it. I then turn back to my friends as Numbuh Two leaves his room.

"Good morning, guys," Numbuh Two says.

"Good morning," Amanda says.

"So, uh... Numbuh Two?" I ask. "Sorry if it seems like I'm asking a bit much, but what's going to happen today?"

"Well, I don't see why I should bring you into anything if you aren't needed for it," Numbuh Two says, before yawning. Then we all yawn. "We do plan for some sort of meeting for what we're going to do to bring you back, but until then, what I said before about you guys being off-duty for now still stands. Feel free to do whatever you want. Just... don't get into too much trouble."

Then we see Numbuh Five show up in the hangar. She looks way more tired than the rest of us. She doesn't even talk to us, though. She just leaves to go somewhere else. The operatives that she passes by don't even say anything, but they do look at her with concern. Numbuh Five doesn't pay them any mind as she leaves the room. She doesn't want to talk to anyone or do anything after what happened. We don't say anything either, because we understand. One of her only remaining friends of the Sector V squad is dead, and she was so close as he was blasted by Fusion Dexter. The Fusions have taken so much from all of us, and that's why I will make sure to help when I go back. Well, hopefully I will go back. It's best to stay optimistic.

That reminds me. If Numbuh One was killed, I believe that means Numbuh Five should now be the leader of Sector V. And since I haven't heard anything about the Moon Base, she could even be the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door now, as Numbuh 362 was the Supreme Leader at the time I was decommissioned. The only problem with that hypothesis is that becoming the Supreme Leader is not that simple. It's actually determined by a game of tag that all KND operatives take part in every single year. Consider it our version of an election. If you're it, you're the Supreme Leader, and you need to tag someone else to transfer the power to them. But maybe that's not how it'll work now, as during that time, there was no huge war, especially one this dire.

"Anyway, guys, do whatever you want. I'll be going off to do stuff."

"What stuff?" Lucas asks.

"Get a few things ready. Call some people. Get some food. The usual."

Numbuh Two then leaves the hangar through some other door. At this point, the sky is much brighter now, but it doesn't like the Sun has come up just yet. Now, there's many operatives in the hangar, and they're all going to one place: the kitchen, to get their breakfast. We similarly follow the operatives, and after waiting in line for a while, we get our breakfast. For me, it's simply cereal with milk, and juice. I don't want to use up too much. After that, we go down the the TV room again. This time, not many people give me a weird look. Even if they did, I wouldn't be affected by it this time. When we get to one of the TVs, Andrew starts to get really excited. I can tell because I can see a weird electric current within his body that jumps to the surface mere moments later.

"I just had a really good idea!" Andrew says. "Mark! We should catch you up on Realms! There's been, like, three seasons worth of stuff that have come out or been released online in the time you were gone! Come on! Let's watch it!"

"That'll take a while, though, won't it?" Gumball asks. "Isn't that days worth of episodes or something?"

"Well, there are 3 seasons, each with 26 episodes, each of which are roughly 11 minutes," Anais says. "So that rounds to about 28.2 total hours of watch-time, but that doesn't account for other things. And we're not going to be binge-watching either, so maybe it'll be a few days when accounting for other factors."

"Well, let's start watching, then!" Andrew says, eagerly grabbing a remote and navigating a huge archive of TV recordings. As he starts doing that, I realize something: I'm pretty sure that if things go smoothly, I'll be back in the past real soon. And if I were to watch all the new episodes of Realms so far, then that means I'd know everything that happens for the next three seasons, while everyone else would not. So nothing would really surprise me, because I'd know the plot twists, revelations, major events and even when characters get killed off for years, and if things go really well when I go back, then I'd have to wait until Season 5 to feel like they've caught up with me. I don't want to be in that situation. It's at this point Andrew's found a recording for episode 2 of Season 2, titled _"Singularities"_. The description reads: _"After many black holes have appeared out of nowhere within other solar systems in the Milky Way, Aura and her team attempt to find the source of this mystery."_

"Wait! No! Don't!" I suddenly blurt out. "Don't... do it yet..."

"What? Why not?" Andrew says.

"I don't want to, OK?"

"Come on!" Andrew complains, as we enter one of our little brotherly arguments. "So much cool stuff went down over the time you were gone!"

"That's exactly the point," I say, before I explain again that if I watch all the episodes now, then I'll know everything that happens before everyone else. It won't feel like I'm watching something new with all my friends, but just slowly re-watching the series again. Once I tell them, they understand my viewpoint, and they agree that it would be weird having to wait for years until they would be on the same page as me.

"Well, maybe just three or four episodes, then?" Andrew asks, trying to find a compromise. "Because those episodes are pretty crazy!"

"I guess a few episodes wouldn't be too much of a problem," I say. I'm not really sure of when the date of my return would be, but I hope for it to be rather soon after I left. In that case, I'd only have to wait for a few weeks to be back in the swing of things, which isn't too bad. I have to admit: my curiosity is getting the better of me, and waiting for a few weeks won't seem that bad compared to having to wait years if I were to watch all of what's come out so far since Project Future. Heck, I could do that thing I sometimes do when I'm catching my friends up on shows. For instance, when I was first showing my friends Season 1, I ended up sneaking very cryptic hints at certain things, such as Aura's friend Walter dying. I would say things like, "Walter's a really cool character. I'd hate to see him go", and so on. And if the next few episodes of Season 2 are as crazy as they say, I could maybe do the same thing as before when I go back.

"Alright, let's go up to those episodes for now for now. If the time that I'll be going back to is later than then, we can watch the episodes up to that point."

Andrew clicks the play button, starting the episode. Over the next couple hours, we watch up to the fourth episode, allowing time to pause if we want to discuss what went down, or if someone needed to go to the bathroom. Andrew was so correct, too; Those episodes were game-changing. The characters' situation got way worse within only a couple episodes, due to the destruction of their spaceship base. Now I'm wondering how they get out of this. We end up watching a few more episodes than we initially intended, because we couldn't stop ourselves then. We're able to stop ourselves after episode 6, much to Andrew's disapproval. He wants to show me all the crazy things that will happen in the episodes after. I simply tell him:

"I want us to experience those crazy moments in those episodes together when I go back."

After that, I do something that I had totally forgotten to do when I was first with my friends again. I activate my NanoCom and go to my Nano Systems again, and summon my Buttercup nano. Everyone in the room immediately looks in my direction when they see the Nano, then look at me with this awe in their eyes. After all, if I have a Buttercup nano, this must certainly mean I defeated a Fusion Buttercup. And that is true. I did defeat Fusion Buttercup, but at one of the greatest costs. Aidan. I know they must think of me now as some super-strong hero, but as far as I'm aware, I was too late to stop something from killing my friend. My Buttercup nano, while really cool, is a constant reminder that I was too late. Regardless, my other friends seem to like the Buttercup Nano.

I ask my friends if they have any Nanos, and it turns out that a few of them used to have Nanos too, but mostly they were ones made from "nano creation sets" that were mass-produced. Apparently the Nanos that could be created from these sets were always Nanos of some sort of hero, whether it be a Nano of a Powerpuff Girl, of one of Ben 10's numerous aliens, of Dexter, of Mandark, or something else. It's believed, though, that just like a Fusion, a Nano could be made from anyone. My friends also told me that some of the stronger operatives in the Kids Next Door have been heard to have Nanos of high-level operatives like Numbuh Three or Four. But when the Battle of Downtown (which is what they're calling the battle I was in yesterday) started, the center of the Nano network, or the "Great Machine", was attacked and partially corrupted. Almost all the Nanos connected to it, which was pretty much all Nanos, were also corrupted and destroyed. My friends had experienced this first-hand, as they all had at least one Nano, but then when the Great Machine was damaged, all their Nanos just exploded into the components that made them up, and when they tried to re-summon them, it wouldn't work. Any Nanos created after would be unaffected by this corruption, which is why my Buttercup nano is OK.

All this talk of heroes reminds Lucas of something because he looks up as if something just popped into his head. He tells me, "Hey, Mark! I just thought of something! We should all go to Heroes Square!"

"Oh, yeah! That's not far from here, right?" Andrew asks. "Isn't it only a few minutes away when walking?"

"Yeah, but we can take an even cooler way there!" Evan says. "We can take a zip-line down there!"

"Wait, a zip-line?!" I say. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Well, I need to let them know where we're going first so that you're safe and all." Evan then calls Numbuh Two and says we are going to head to Heroes Square in a moment. Numbuh Two allows us to, and says he'll increase the number of operatives in that area as soon as he can. Well, it'll still take a while for us to get to Heroes Square from here, so by the time that we arrive there, the operatives will all be there. Well, if we're going out, I should probably find a change of clothes. My old clothes have been almost totally wrecked, whether they've been torn in some places, or stained by mud, Fusion Matter or even blood. Regardless, these clearly aren't fit for wearing anymore. So, before we do go out, I go back to our room and get some of the spare clothes from the crate with my stuff.

I simply grab the first things I see that seem like they'd be a good idea to wear. The first thing I grab is one of my hoodies. The torso and cuffs of the hoodie are blue, while the sleeves, shoulders, and hood are white. I had got this the winter before I went into the future, and it still fits me well when I put it on. I then grab another thing willy-nilly through the box: A blue pair of pants. As for shoes, I'm not sure at first, but in another box, I find a shoebox with some shoes in them. Like my hoodie, they have blue and white on them, but the straps and back of the shoes are also yellow. It's funny: I didn't care at all what I chose, and yet the outfit I've made is rather... matching. I'll just wear it. Why not? Even though there's nobody else in this room, I still move to a hard-to-see area as I change into my new clothes. Once I'm changed, I grab my Lightning Gun and put on the necklace before I leave.

Once I meet back up with my friends, we go to the main transportation tube and take it all the way down to where Numbuh One's house is. The Treehouse literally grows out of Numbuh One's house, by the way. I don't know how, but I know from personal experience that you can't really question much with the Kids Next Door. After walking down the small brick path, we reach the edge of the floating ground. From here, I can see rather far. There are houses as far as the eye can see, but it's clear that many of them are destroyed and/or infected. The ones that aren't are heavily fortified and boarded up. I look down and see the large machine keeping things up.

"I never got to ask: How the heck is this floating?" I ask.

"It's some sort of anti-gravity projector that keeps the Treehouse suspended above the ground," Amanda says. It was installed after there were numerous attempts by the Fusions to attack the Treehouse, and being kids, we decided to just make the place float. The chains keep the Treehouse in place so it doesn't just float away. Mandark Industries actually helped a lot in constructing it pretty early on in the war, going so far as to even create some of the more difficult devices for us, like the Gravity Decelerator. I guess he was trying to gain the KND's favor."

"Did he?"

"More than usual, definitely," Evan says.

"Hold on a sec. Couldn't the monsters just attack the projector, then?"

"That's what the energy shield's designed to stop," Amanda says. "And so far, this place hasn't collapsed, and we hope for that to be the case for as long as possible."

On many different parts of the edge, there are zip-line posts that extend out to many different parts of Sector V. I know that if John were here, he'd start getting worried about the bad possibilities: What if the zipline breaks? What if something attacks us while we're going down on it? I push those thoughts out of my mind, and I ask which of us are going to go first. In response to this, Evan just grabs one of the zip-line handles from the nearby crate, which is blue in the center with metal handles. He links the top of the handle to the rope, and slides down the zip-line, screaming, **"WOOOOOOO!"** Andrew then follows suit, then Gumball, then Amanda and then myself. I feel the air on my face as I go down the zip-line, over houses and a couple trees. I brush by the branches of one of the trees and the leaves hit my face, but I'm not knocked off. Once I get to the end and come to a stop, I let go before Lucas, who said he was gonna go after I went, reaches where I am. Anais comes down next, then Penny. As for Jade, she simply flies down to us.

Once we're all here, I look at my surroundings. The most noticeable thing is a large, marble structure in the center of this square-shaped park. The structure has five wide, tall "spokes" that stretch out from the center, and on the tops of the ends are projectors that show the holograms of people, as well as their names. Specifically, those being projected are fallen heroes. I can see several recognizable people being projected: Ben 10, Dexter, Blossom, Bubbles and somebody else I don't really recognize. Is that guy wearing a sock on his head? I wonder what that guy did to get his place here. In the center of this structure, it rises upward, and there's a holographic book being projected on the very top, but I can't really read what it's saying. In the small park, numerous benches with that KND-shaped backrest have been placed. And yeah, operatives are everywhere. They're hanging out on a lot of places near the edges of the park to keep any Fusion Monsters out. Well, we definitely know that we're safe here. OK, now for what to do...

Well, for starters, we decide that the Hero Square park is going to be the "area" for a game we might play. After all, we don't want to be talking about what happened all the time. We know that we want our game to be one that all of us can play and understand. When we decide on a simple game of tag, most of us are really interested in playing. Anais, though, isn't as sure as the rest of us. I guess she is right to think that being 6-7 years old in a game of tag with 18-year-old players at most, she'll either take forever to tag someone or get tagged instantly, with the latter usually coming before the former. I tell her that if she doesn't want to play, it's fine, but she succumbs to peer pressure within a few moments. She says that she'll try, at the very least.

So, with the game now in motion, we decide on one particular rule: Don't use any special things that could give us an advantage, such as Jade's flight, Andrew's powers or Penny's shapeshifting. Evan and all my friends register our weapons in one of the small storage units at the edge of the park before we go back to where we were before, get in a circle, and do the simple Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe game to select who'll be it. Now, I've done this so many times that I'm already counting ahead of the selector, to see who'll be it. Well, Andrew's the selector right now, and he's counting clockwise after starting on himself. So while Andrew's doing the selecting, I calculate ahead of time that I'm gonna be it. Well, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I ran so much yesterday I could certainly do some more running today, although I might get sore again. However, Andrew does the "My mother told me" part after, so that throws me off. Before I can calculate it, it turns out Gumball's it.

As soon as Gumball is chosen to be it, everyone scatters. I run around the structure to the other side of where we were, looking for something to hide behind. I turn around as I run. Gumball isn't chasing me, but I do see him chasing Andrew. They're moving really, really fast. I hide behind one of the cone-shaped bushes as I watch Gumball and Andrew chasing each other. I'm right in front of one of the ends sticking outward. For curiosity's sake, I look up to see who it is that's being projected, and it's Blossom.

Apparently, they ran into where Amanda was hiding because she's also running away from Gumball now. Gumball manages to tag Andrew, and I duck down before he can see me. I peek through the leaves in the bush to try and see where Andrew is. I can see him going after Amanda, while Gumball's running the other direction. I keep an eye on Andrew, and they chase each other down some sort of stairway until they're out of view. Where that goes I'm not entirely sure. OK, now that they're nowhere to be seen, I'll find somewhere else to hide. This is not really the best place, in all honesty. I quickly glance for where to go. OK, there's a pretty big rock on my right, but it's about 30 feet away. But it's way easier to hide behind than this bush. I'm gonna go for it.

I sprint over to a pair of those same KND benches, lined up side by side. Next to them is a birch tree that is casting a shadow on an area near where the benches are. I crouch down and sneak past the benches, listening carefully for the sound of footsteps rapidly getting closer. But right now, that sound isn't there.

"Mark," something whispers from the shadows. I instinctively gasp and stare directly at where the voice is, with my fists in front of me. That legit scared the hell out of me, especially after all the things I've been through yesterday. I was this close to activating my Buttercup nano.

"Chill, man, it's just me," Lucas says, peeking out from behind the bush near the birch tree. "Are you it?"

"If you thought I could be it, why would you reveal yourself?" I ask. "And no, I'm not it. But if I do become it, you might want to get somewhere else."

I continue moving slowly toward the rock, keeping an eye out for anything. There's another cone bush near the path I'm taking to the rock, which is really close now. I head to the cone bush just in case something shows up, and I wait for a few seconds. Nothing. I move to the rock, and just as I reach it, I see Amanda and Andrew coming from the side nearest me, heading in my direction. But Amanda's now behind Andrew, and they're both running toward me.

"Run, Mark! Amanda's it!" Andrew says. I dash away from the rock toward where I came from. As we run, I turn around again and see Lucas jump out of his hiding place when Amanda sees him. He's now running with us. We pass the end with the Blossom hologram on it as we run around Hero Square. We run into the space between the Blossom and Bubbles holograms, and something stops us in our path. There's nothing physically blocking our way, but the fact that it's there makes us stop. It's Buttercup. She's looking at both the Blossom and Bubbles holograms, while sitting in the space between them. It's incredibly obvious she's still mourning the loss of her sisters, and she's isolating herself from everything because she doesn't want to talk to anybody. I know I'd do the same if I lost Andrew. Amanda arrives soon after, but when she sees Buttercup, she doesn't bother to tag any of us.

"Hello?" Andrew asks. "Are you OK?"

Buttercup looks up and gives us all this glare that creeps us out. "Are you serious? Do you really think that I could possibly be OK after **_what's happened?"_** The ground shakes a little bit as she does this, and her eyes start to glow green a bit. OK, this was a really bad time to try and talk to her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm sorry!" Andrew backs up, a bit scared. Buttercup calms down, and just looks down, sighing loudly.

"Just leave me alone," Buttercup says. "You can't understand what I'm going through right now."

Lucas tries to say, "I think we can, actually-"

 **"NO, YOU CAN'T!"** Buttercup screams, cutting Lucas off right then and there. Her voice is so loud it forms a semi-shockwave, and when I'm knocked back, I can see the Blossom hologram flicker in and out for a brief moment as I turn back to Buttercup. "I knew my sisters since the very moment we were created in the Professor's lab. We fought together, played together, and did so many more kinds of things together! And now... they're both gone. I wasn't there to help them when they needed me the most. I should've been there for them..."

We're stuck in an uncomfortable silence for a moment as Buttercup just sits there. I don't know how to react to this. I'm sure that when Lucas first lost Chris, nobody who hadn't also lost a twin would know what to say. You can't exactly know for certain how it feels to lose someone dear until it happens.

"You know, I was going to say 'I know how you feel' and all that stuff, but we already all know this," Lucas says, breaking the silence. "We've all lost people we love. Friends, parents... siblings... I wasn't there to save my brother. He went into our school as it was being infected because he was trying to find me. If I was with him at the time, he might've lived... But as Amanda told me on that day, 'you have nothing to fault yourself for'. You didn't know this was going to happen to you. Nobody did. So don't blame yourself. We all have a common enemy to divert our hate toward. The Fusions. That's what we should be focusing our anger on, because blaming ourselves for these things will only make this fight harder."

Wow... That was probably the most powerful speech I've heard from one of my friends. Bravo to Lucas. What Lucas is saying seems to be working, as Buttercup was trembling and her fists were clenched tightly before. But now her hands are open, and she's just looking down at the ground, and the small tear puddle she's made. We sit down next to Buttercup, so that we can all talk this through. She looks up at us, then to Lucas.

"Thanks," Buttercup says, before smiling a tiny bit. Andrew immediately becomes excited by this, and runs directly into Buttercup to give her an "Andrew hug". But since he has superpowers, this is way stronger than the Andrew hugs he'd give me, and those were enough to nearly knock adults over, like when Andrew hugged Dad when we got to him in Dexlabs.

"Whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" Buttercup says, starting to laugh. Andrew's made another person happy today, and given it's a Powerpuff Girl this time, Andrew must be super proud of himself. It's a good thing that we're having these moments to hang out and to be happy. It helps us get better. Of course, I still am adjusting to this new reality, but having my friends here has helped me adjust way easier than if they all weren't here.

"You know what? Should we, uh, pause the game for a bit?" I ask.

"Yeah, let's do that for now," Lucas says. "What's going on right now is way more important. Amanda, can you contact them?"

Amanda activates her NanoCom's screen and does a few things. I try to decipher it as well as I can by trying to read what the letters are backwards, and I guess she's selecting the names of all our friends who aren't here, and therefore still think the game is on. Amanda presses some other holo-button, and says, "Hey, guys. Game of tag is paused for now. Meet us between the Blossom and Bubbles holograms. We're with Buttercup. Oh, and if the game starts back up later, just remember I'll be it." The holograms coming from her NanoCom deactivate, and we start talking with Buttercup again.

"You guys are good people," Buttercup says. "It's hard to find people with your kind of mindset nowadays."

"Well, when we have the chance to make things right, we're going to," Amanda says. "And we'll try as hard as we can to help get Mark to the past."

"Hey, guys!" Evan says, making his presence known. He and Penny walk up to us, with Jade showing up from above. Anais and Gumball soon show up not long after. Now that the group's all here, it's time to hang out with a Powerpuff. And we do just that. As we help cheer Buttercup up, Andrew is still really happy to be here. Very soon after our hangout begins, Buttercup brings something up:

"Hey, does Mark, um, know all about what happened to me yet?"

"No, not yet, really," Andrew says. "We've been focusing on more things that involved us."

"Wait, what happened to her?" I ask. All my friends proceed to look at me with this look, like there's something everyone here knows that I don't.

"So, uh, you remember when we were at that ice cream shop, right before we found out that you were chosen for Project Future?" Evan says.

"That was like, yesterday for me, dude. Of course I remember. Didn't John say how, uh... Wait, wasn't it, uh... Belladonna! The new Gangreen member! Yeah, John said how she looked like Buttercup, and..." My eyes are immediately drawn to Buttercup. That green streak of hair... that's in the exact place Belladonna's green streak of hair was in the picture Lucas showed us. The scar... It's definitely faded, but I can still make it out. It's also in the same place as it was on Belladonna. ...I know what they're talking about. Belladonna was Buttercup somehow!

"You were Belladonna?" I say to Buttercup.

"...Yeah, I guess you can say that," Buttercup says.

"But... how come you-"

Before I can finish my question, Buttercup is fully aware of what I was going to ask, because she proceeds to explain everything to me.

* * *

 _ **Buttercup**_

I wasn't really myself at the time. After I was blasted into the ocean, I had lost my memories, and so when I resurfaced somewhere else in the world, I had no freakin' idea who I was. The only thing that I knew was that my name started with a 'B', and there was not much else to work with. That's when I came across the Gangreen Gang after one of their gigs, and their leader, Ace, decided to take me in. I didn't know why at first, but I didn't complain, because I now had a place to crash. But now that I think about it, he must have known who I was the entire time.

Your friend was not the only person to compare me to... me. Belladonna to Buttercup, I mean. I got that quite often, actually. At first, I just dismissed those comparisons, always saying, 'If I were Buttercup, I'd know it.' I never had told anyone I had no memory of who I was except for the rest of our band, but over time, more and more details began to show up. I had really liked wearing this one kind of clothing, and it would always be green. I used to have a family at one point, but I didn't know their names.

A lot of these details that came back would be blurry and hard to totally understand most of the time. I remembered being popular before I lost my memories. When we were buying stuff once, there was this one cereal on display that I saw that made me feel nostalgic for some reason. Then another time, I saw this blanket, and I was reminded again of something. Then I realized I loved to punch stuff, and, around a year and some change after I had been brought into the Gangreen Gang, something started to click.

* * *

 _ **Belladonna - June 17, 2017 - 5:30 PM**_

I don't know what it is about punching stuff that's so fun for me, but I just freakin' love it. I've used up a few punching bags already this week, and I just can't stop. Now that I've learned of my love for punching things, I just want to do it more and more. On punching bags, of course. I'm not going to hit anyone unless they're doing something bad to people or destroying stuff. Interestingly, sometimes whenever I punch these punching bags, I think of an unrealistically large scrap of meat hanging from the ceiling of some even larger place, like a warehouse or something. I don't know why this is the case, but maybe it's more memories. I don't know why that's part of them, but at least I'm getting something new.

Anyway, I'm beating the heck out of this one punching bag, and I've giving it all I've got. I see things normally for a while, but then I suddenly get flashes of things in my mind. I'm beating up some of the villains that the Powerpuff Girls fight against. The settings and villains flash by very fast: Mojo Jojo, Him, a few others. Why am I seeing these things? I stop punching the bags to think about why the heck I'm thinking this. If they're other memories, what the heck did I do before I lost my memory? Maybe if I continue punching the punching bags, I'll see more.

I continue punching the punching bag, and what I see starts getting clearer. I punch harder and harder as time goes on, to the point that the punching bag swings up to the ceiling. I see more times where I am punching some sort of villain, and it lasts just a tiny bit longer every time. However, after a few minutes, something new comes up. Now I see myself pushing... Blossom. A Powerpuff Girl. I push her out the way before something bright hits me from the right, and then I'm back here again. At that moment, I stop punching, only to realize that I had sent the punching bag off its hook, across the room and through the wall of our apartment building. Sand and pieces of the wall are all over the floor. What the... Uh... What the heck just happened? Why was I pushing Blossom? I sit down for a moment to think about what just happened. How did I send the punching bag through the wall? Am I **that** strong? I look back through the new hole in the wall and to top this craziness off, the punching bag has gone across the street and through the building on the other side. The people in the room that was busted into are even more freaked out and confused than I am. I get out of view before anyone can see me, of course.

Ace and the rest of our band are all somewhere else right now. I need to tell them what happened. I try to call him, but nobody picks up. Ace said one of our next gigs was going to be at Sunny Bridges Auditorium, and that they'd be practicing near there around this time today. I'll try going there. As I get out of the building, I start thinking about how I did that. Why was I thinking of beating up bad guys? Why was I pushing Blossom? Why would I be there? Was that what happened that made me lose my memory? I don't know... As I enter the hotel lobby, I see a poster of Buttercup, with "REMEMBER BUTTERCUP" under it. I stare at it for a moment, feeling some weird sense of familiarity. At the very least, I looked a lot like her before I lost my memory. I don't want to jump to conclusions, though. I need to make sure I'm right about this before I start saying it.

When I leave the hotel lobby, there's a ton of people outside looking at the holes in the walls, pointing and taking photos. Some people even called the police. I remain as calm as I can and try to slip away. Of course, some people notice me and ask for my autograph or to take a photo with them. I do so, but I'm starting to think more and more: Am I actually Buttercup? Am I really her? After giving them the autographs, I head to a nearby bus stop so that I can take the bus up to where Ace and the rest of the gang are. I'm not gonna call them yet. If I'm going to call them, it'll be when I know for certain who I am. I search on my phone, "buttercup final battle footage". I've seen this several times before, but I need to see it again. I need to see what Buttercup did, or if I'm right about this, what _I_ did. The first thing that pops up is a video from a channel known as **_"Infiniteam"_**. Funny enough, they're the ones who become popular from the whole Project Future thing, and then again when the brother of that kid who went in the time machine got superpowers. I click on the video and I'm seeing that battle. The battle between Buttercup and one of Mojo Jojo's giant robots that made Buttercup go missing. I watch the footage carefully. It's a little wobbly, but that's not what I care about. The camera zooms in on the three Powerpuffs when they regroup. I don't hear what they're saying, but we can hear the sounds of Mojo's giant robot rising up. The camera zooms out a bit, and we see Mojo's robot and the three Powerpuffs. This next part goes by really fast, so I have to slow down the video using the settings. After the light from the robot's chest comes out. Buttercup sees the light focus on Blossom, and quickly pushes her out of the way... Blossom turns around to face Buttercup right before she gets blasted by the laser from her right... Yeah, this is exactly what I saw, which would be the exact thing Buttercup would see from her view in this video. So... there can't be any other way. I must be her.

At this point, the bus arrives, but I don't know what to do. I always wanted to figure out who I was, but this is something I didn't expect. All those people who compared me to Buttercup in terms of how similar we looked were right. They were all right. Still, there's a small, nagging doubt in my mind, saying that I may have just been someone who happened to look a lot like Buttercup, and I saved Blossom from something. I glance at the bus times, and there are other buses that stop here. So, I simply do nothing, contemplating what I've just learned about myself. I don't want to go to Ace now. If I'm Buttercup, then I need to get to Blossom and Bubbles first. They'd know whether or not this could be true. Then I'll call Ace and tell him what happened. As the bus leaves the stop, I hear a couple kids on the other side who are freaking out because they see me, Buttercup. I guess this also explains how I've been able to hear certain things that I normally shouldn't hear, but that only happens sometimes. The parents say that that isn't me, and that it's actually Belladonna. No... the kids are right. This whole time, they've been right, and not even I knew it until now. So, if I'm trying to get to Pokey Oaks, the Slider's going to be the fastest way to do that, not the 88 bus. I'm about to get up and start going to the Slider, but I start hearing screaming and panic. It's far at first, but then it gets closer. It's behind me and to the right. I turn in that direction and look down the street the bus is heading for. As the bus reaches the intersection, a large Fusion Monster runs right into it.

The monster looks like someone took several fire hydrants and water pipes, oversized some of them and merged 'em all together to form something. It also has two large, red hydrants attached to the ends of its arms. Followed by this monster are a bunch of other floating, mechanical monsters, that, while smaller than it, are sleek and equipped with only cannon arms, but the bottom of it is four sharp blades sticking downward. Their cannon arms also have blades on them. They wreak havoc on the street, blasting Fusion Matter and other kinds of attacks at the civilians. As for the hydrant-armed monster, it overturns the bus completely, making its top the bottom. People start running in all directions to get away from the chaos.

Wait, why am I just standing here? I'm supposed to be Buttercup, and these Fusion Monsters are causing all sorts of destruction. I need to save these people and kick Fusion butt! This propels me into action, although I don't know if my powers, particularly ones like flight and laser vision, will work as well. I run to the bus, and people are hurrying out. Those two kids that saw me are getting out, as well as their parents. OK, they look alright. Now where are those monsters?

"Dad! Mom! It's Buttercup!" the kids scream, jumping and pointing. The hydrant monster suddenly appears directly behind them. The kids scream in terror, and the hydrant monster raises one of its hydrant arms to attack us. But I won't let it. I intercept the hydrant arm, and my super strength stops it in its tracks. I keep a tight hold on it as I turn to the family on my right, and they're shocked. The kids are jumping and smiling with glee, as I have returned. If everything else wasn't enough to convince me that I was Buttercup, this definitely has.

"Go!" I yell, as I tear part of the hydrant monster's arm, and swing it back at it. The hydrant hits it directly, sending it back. Some of those monsters with the cannons and blades try to attack close-up, but their blades not only do pretty much nothing, but they break off. So it tries to blast me, but I slam it in the ground, and break it apart. The hydrant monster tries to come back at me, but I hit it so hard it breaks into pieces. Then I see lasers coming down from the sky and destroying the monsters I hadn't gotten to yet. The other Powerpuffs are here. Those two other kids start screaming, **"BLOSSOM! BUBBLES! BUTTERCUP'S HERE!"**

I hear them land on the ground behind me, and I know that they want to see if I am Buttercup. They know it can't be anyone else here, because I'm surrounded by the pieces of Fusion Monsters that I beat up and destroyed.

"...Buttercup?" Blossom asks. I turn around and I see both her and Bubbles. Both of... my sisters... I know that they're my sisters, and even though not many of my memories are here, I feel a sense of being at home again. I hesitate for a moment before responding, but I begin to smile as I say:

"...Yeah."

Immediately, Blossom and Bubbles zoom over and hug me harder than I think they ever have, from what I'm now beginning to remember of them. And as they hug me, I now remember another thing: Blossom, Bubbles and I playing together. And as hard as I try not to, the emotion gets to me, and some tears escape. But it's all tears of joy, because I have come back. While I may not be completely Buttercup yet, I know who I am now. I am Buttercup of the Powerpuff Girls.

* * *

 _ **Mark - January 15, 2019 - 10:11 AM**_

"Over time, I got more of my memories back, until I was pretty much myself again," Buttercup says. "Needless to say, the world exploded with happiness when I was found out, but there was one thing on my mind. Not long after I realized who I was and saved those people, my sisters and I went to Ace and asked if he always knew this. Ace tried to say he didn't know, but we could see right through his lies. And like I always did to those villains, we gave them many knuckle sandwiches for hiding such a secret from me. Speaking of which, at the same time that people were really happy I returned, the Gangreen Gang got barraged with hatred from then on."

"Yeah, the Gangreen Gang's reputation really started to plummet from then on," Lucas says. "A lot of people who used to be their fans gave up on them, especially Ace. Even I, who was a diehard fan of them at the time, knew that what Ace did was a big no-no. Knowing that she was Buttercup and instead of letting people know, he tried to change her into something else for personal gain while the whole world mourned their loss... That's just unforgivable. And to top it all off, Ace tried to twist the situation in their favor by making it seem like they were just as unaware she was Buttercup as we were, but not only did they not do a good job of it, there was plenty of evidence to combat their claims. They went from one of the most popular bands in recent times to one of the most hated. There were still some who said they forgave them, but that was a very small percentage. The rest, they left them for good, and like me, put their Gangreen Gang stuff away and disconnected themselves from that band. I still have my Ace Jacket somewhere, but I just don't like to wear it anymore."

"It was crazy, though. #WelcomeBackButtercup was trending for at least a week," Evan says. "The whole world became more hopeful in mere hours, and Andrew... you should've seen how he reacted."

"I nearly caused a power outage in our apartment at the time," Andrew says, chuckling at the craziness of his situation. "I was that happy. I know I could've overloaded the whole building if that suit hadn't been able to stop me."

"And I had just met Andrew only, uh, a week or so before then, right?" Gumball says. Andrew and Anais both nod. "So I didn't know his powers were that crazy."

"Man... Now I'm wondering how you'll react when I tell that to you guys after I return to the past," I say. I mean, Andrew would not only have less control of his abilities, but he'd already be super happy I was back. "Although, to be fair, I'll be telling you everything else. Well, minus the Kids Next Door stuff. I'll have to make something else up. At least, until the war starts again and you guys get recommissioned, then I'll tell you guys the truth. And Buttercup, I'll let your sisters know where you are as soon as I can."

"Thanks," Buttercup says. "Just know that it might be a little harder to convince me at that point in time. What time is he going to head back to?"

"Well, we think it'll be rather soon after that whole time machine thing happened, which was just at the start of summer."

"Yeah, in that case, it'll be way harder. I didn't have that many memories of who I was at the time, so if you tried to talk to me, I'd probably continuously say how that couldn't be true. I was very stubborn about that."

"Is there anything we could do now that could help?"

Evan then suddenly looks up like Lucas did earlier in the Treehouse, and says, "We could take the group photo now, with Buttercup! That way, we can get multiple things done at once! We can show proof that Buttercup is back in the Future, and Mark, you can use this as one of the photos to show what happened in the Future!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Andrew says. I can hear him mumbling to himself excitedly on how awesome this is and how he's going to be in a photo with a Powerpuff Girl. You know what, I'll agree to this for him alone, but also because it really gets two things done at once. Evan's idea can work, and we get ready to take the photo. We set up similar positioning to what we did in the previous photo we did yesterday, but Buttercup is now floating with us. Now, the problem here is that there's no benches to put the photo on, and if we went to anywhere else, it would take a while to move all the operatives and KND stuff in the sightline of the phone so that nothing belonging to the KND is there. Thankfully, we get someone walking by to take the photo for us. As the photos get taken, I feel colder for just a moment. Once we get my phone back, we all look at the photo like we did before, and boy, it's still awesome. Having Buttercup in there definitely increased the coolness factor.

Our group continues to talk with Buttercup about things for a few more minutes, particularly about what I should do to help Buttercup get back to her old self. She does tell me that while I may not be able to change her immediately, I can definitely spread the word about who she is. If I find her, I could also do something to prove that she is at least more powerful than she knows, such as by causing something to make her realize she has super strength or is immune to things.

In the midst of our conversation, my NanoCom starts to beep rapidly. A holographic screen appears above my NanoCom and says, **"INCOMING MESSAGE -** ** _COMPUTRESS_** **"**. I obviously answer, and Computress's hologram appears above the NanoCom.

"Greetings, Mark," Computress says.

"Hey, Computress," I say. "Do you need me for something?"

"That is indeed the case. We are sending a SCAMPER to bring you back to the Treehouse. Once you've arrived, come speak to us right away at the Briefing Room."

"Who's 'us'?"

"Well, myself, Numbuh Two, Numbuh Five, and..." Computress visibly gets a bit annoyed. "...Mandark."

"Wait, what?!" Amanda says. Yeah, she's really not a fan of Mandark Industries. None of us really are.

"Unfortunately, yes, but we have no other choice," Computress says. "Your SCAMPER should be arriving any moment now."

"Alright, we'll see you soon," I say. "Bye for now."

"Goodbye." The call ends there. I look at my friends. Some of them aren't so sure about this. I know a few of them don't like Mandark. I will admit: I'm not really a fan either. He's tried as hard as he can to direct attention from Dexlabs and toward his own company by any means necessary so many times. We've heard that often, he's tried to beat Dexter in his attempts to discovering breakthroughs, even if the subject of said breakthrough was not at all in Mandark's interests. But he barely ever can make it in time before Dexter, and so a lot of his inventions just seem like lesser copies of Dexlabs stuff. Case in point: His Mandroids are exactly like Dexbots, but black and red instead of blue and white, more menacing, have blades on their arms and heads, and can be really rude. We should know, as we encountered one once while hanging out in Townsville, and it was completely unhelpful in what we were trying to do. Another time, Amanda tried to prank one by asking it where Dexlabs was, and it told her to leave immediately or face severe consequences. We never stayed around to see what it would do.

"Well, if he's the only way I can get back, we might as well just do it even if we don't like him that much," I tell my friends. "Let's go to the SCAMPER."

After we say goodbye to Buttercup, she flies away to go somewhere else. She's probably going back to her home in Pokey Oaks, or the iconic Powerpuff house. Once she's gone, we make our way to the corner of Heroes Square that faces the Treehouse just in time to see a SCAMPER come down and land in one of the open parts of the park. We head over and are about to enter when I see something bright green in my peripherals. I glance over and see several Fusion Spawns peeking at me from behind houses and bushes outside Heroes Square. They quickly move back once they know I see them. I'm unable to contain my anger as I shoot at them.

I am so tempted to run in after them right now, to find them and blow them to smithereens. But I have a feeling that Fuse wants that. Of course he'll want that. He'll want me to run in, blinded with rage, and then I'll get ambushed or something. So while I want to go after them, I restrain myself from doing so. Andrew also lets a blast off at the Spawns for good measure, and it proves very effective. I guess that helped, as now there's less Fusion Spawns over there. I needed to let my anger out somehow, anyway. Well, with that taken care of, we get on the SCAMPER, and it takes off toward the Treehouse.


	11. Moving Forward

**_Mark - January 15, 2019 - 10:27 AM_**

It doesn't take long for the SCAMPER to get from Heroes Square to the top of the Treehouse. The SCAMPER doesn't even need to stop in the hangar, either, because there's a convenient landing area outside the balcony around the Briefing Room. Once we land, I don't even hesitate before getting up and walking out of the SCAMPER. Once I leave, I take a moment to observe my surroundings as the rest of us start to leave as well. The balcony that surrounds the Briefing Room on all sides is square shaped, not including the area for SCAMPERs to land. The Briefing Room itself is a cylindrical shape, and on top of it is that large satellite dish, which is powerful enough to transmit information as far as the numerous KND planetary bases in the rest of the solar system. But I have a feeling that those bases aren't around anymore.

One of the entrances to the Briefing Room is conveniently right across from the landing area, and so after getting off the SCAMPER, all of us can just walk right inside. I hear Gumball whisper something to Penny as they both leave the SCAMPER. Moments later, Gumball asks:

"Hey, Mark? Is it OK if Penny and I sit this one out?"

"Um... Sure," I ask. "Why?"

"It's just... I need to talk to her about something."

"About what? Is something wrong?"

"I... Well..." He looks at Andrew in a certain way, and right after he gives the look, Andrew says:

"Why don't we just go on in, Mark? We can just let them talk about whatever it is they wanna talk about."

As Gumball and Penny split off from our group and head to one of the several KND benches on the balcony, we walk into the Briefing Room. Lining the sides of the room are various consoles and control panels, and in the center are various green-tinted holograms being projected from a device attached to the ceiling. Currently, it's projecting schematics for what looks to be another time machine. It's definitely like Dexter's old time machine, that's for sure. What's also being shown are numerous different things that I assume are also needed for me to get back. Around the holograms are four people talking amongst each other: Computress, Numbuh Two, Numbuh Five, and of course, Mandark.

The first thing about Mandark that has always caught my attention to him whenever I saw him was the weird cape he's almost always worn. It really does give him a "mad scientist" feel that he doesn't bother hiding. The cape is black on the outside and dark red on the inside. And white the white button-up shirt, yellow tie with thin black stripes, yellow suspenders, blue shorts and those brown, old-fashioned shoes, he completes the Mandark look. Mandark has a few of his Mandroids in the room with him, either also observing the holograms or at the consoles. There's something else next to Mandark, but I can't see it as clearly. Whatever it is, it isn't a Mandroid.

"Greetings again, Mark," Computress says, bringing everyone's attention to me as we enter. Even the operatives at the computers glance at us before they go back to whatever they're doing. "You... already know Mandark."

"Hello," I say. "I take it we're going over the plan again?"

"That is exactly what we are doing," Mandark says, staring at us with pride. "And thanks to my now unchallenged genius, we'll get you back to the past in no time! Ha ha ha...!"

"...Yeah," I simply say. Off the bat, I can tell is a weird situation. Dexter had praised me as some sort of hero in his final transmission, and like I've said before, Mandark and Dexter were long-time rivals. And now that I'm reliant on his rival to bring me back, he's not even bothering to hide his reveling. It doesn't exactly help that I'm wearing clothing that's almost purely white or blue, which are the Dexlabs colors. I mean, I'll take what I can get, but this doesn't make this situation any less weird. I just won't bring that up and maybe the awkwardness will alleviate.

 _"Hello,"_ another voice comes from near Mandark, to dispel that awkward situation away. It's not any voice I recognize, though. The voice sounds like a young boy's voice, almost like that of Andrew's, but at the same time, it sounds mechanical. I look down, and as I expected, there's a robot. But this robot is nothing like the Dexbots, Mandroids, Computress or anything of that sort. This robot is way more rudimentary, to say the least. For starters, it has many of those "basic robot" staples: Its features are more box-like, it has those robot claws for hands, and has a disproportionately large head with huge eyes, even with something akin to a square-based light bulb or plasma globe in the top of its head. Or rather, that is the top of its head.

"Hi," I say, and a few of us wave to the robot. "Who are you?"

 _"I am Robot Jones. I function as the primary assistant to Overlord Mandark."_

"Overlord Mandark? Really?" Anais asks while giving Mandark a look that perfectly describes what she just said.

"Did Mandark make you?" Jade asks. "You've got his logo on you!" I take a closer look to see that on the front of its cubic body, the Mandark Industries logo is indeed visible.

 _"Negative,"_ Robot Jones says. _"I was hired personally by Mandark to assist him. He found me in Genius Grove and later took me-"_

"But enough about that," Mandark interrupts him. "What we should be focusing on is what I am going to do in order to rebuild the time machine."

"What _we're_ going to do," Numbuh Two says.

Mandark gives a momentarily glare at Numbuh Two before continuing. " _...Anyways,_ Numbuh Five informed me that during your escape from Tech Square, you received something from Dexter. An 'important part' needed to make the time machine, supposedly."

"You mean the thing he gave us while in the lobby?" Evan asks. "Because I still have that, don't worry. It's just still in my backpack in our room."

"Well, you should bring it to us so we can properly store it."

"I can get it," Andrew says. "It'd be much faster than if anyone else were to go."

"Go on, then."

Andrew walks away for a few seconds, murmuring, "At least a 'please' would be nice," before zooming off.

"Do you know what that piece is, though?" I ask. "We didn't get much info from Dexter about what it was other than what you just said."

"Well, I have been looking through the time machine's schematics, and I found this," Mandark says, before taking the time machine hologram and separating it vertically into various, intact components. He then pushes all but one of these aside and then enlarges it to give us a more detailed look at it.

"Yeah, that's the one," I say. It looks just like the engine-like thing Dexter put in Evan's backpack. Heck, I can see even more detail now on this hologram than when we were in that hectic battle, like the name that goes down it on one of the sides that doesn't have the small pipes going around it. I also see two different ports on opposite sides, but who knows what they connect to. The name says, **"SYNC. ENGINE"**. "What is it, exactly?"

"This device is known as a **_Dexlabs Synchronization Engine_** ," Computress says. "It's a highly advanced and complex device that is the center of the entire time machine. Without it, time travel would not be possible in the first place, and even if it could, it would be heavily unstable. It is critical to us bringing you back to your time, and so it will need to be properly guarded in order to keep it safe from any Fusion-related threats."

"Of course, we will need more than just that to make the time machine," Numbuh Five says. "We'll need several other things as well. Building materials, a huge source of energy for the Synchro Thingamabob to even do the time travel, and a few other things."

"Those should not be difficult to retrieve, however," Mandark says. "All the Dexlabs and Mandark Industries technology that could be evacuated was brought to our outpost on the outskirts of Genius Grove. At this very moment, I have my network of Mandroids collecting the necessary materials, and it should be transported here soon."

"Well, I'm glad that'll be the case. I... I can't say this enough, but thank you guys for giving me this chance-"

A sudden zooming noise cuts me off, and when I turn around, Andrew is there with the real Synchronization Engine. **"I got it! I got it!"** Andrew says, shaking and jumping with excitement. Behind Andrew and through the window, Gumball and Penny are sitting on one of the benches, watching something with confusion. Whatever it is darts to their left and away from our view. I think that's where the ramp down to the rest of the Treehouse is as well. As for whatever it was that they saw, it was in the window before it darted off. I didn't clearly see it, but I could tell when it left the window. All I could really see, anyway, was a flicker of yellow.

"Excellent," Mandark says. He takes the Sync. Engine and starts inspecting it, looking at it from many different angles. I guess he's checking if it's still in working condition. After a few more seconds, he opens up a port on the side and looks in. "Hmm... seems to be intact and in working condition. This will do." He closes the port and places the Engine in the hands of one of his Mandroids. "We will take it from here. If you want to, you may leave now while we do the rest."

"What are you gonna be doing?" Andrew asks.

"Once the rest of the pieces arrive, I will begin leading the time machine's reconstruction, of course. We'll be building it inside a very secure part of the Treehouse that can't be easily targeted by Fusion Monsters."

"Wait, what is that thing I just brought here, though?" Andrew asks. "I saw **_'SYNC. ENGINE'_** on it, but I don't know what it means." As we explain to Andrew what the Synchronization Engine is and what, he becomes excited that it's something that's super important to make a second time machine.

"Well, let's not waste any more time," Mandark says. "Let's get this to the Construction Room."

Mandark starts leaving the room with the Synchronization Engine, with the Mandroids and Robot Jones following him. Numbuh Five, Numbuh Two and Computress follow suit. Before Computress leaves, though, she tells us that they're heading to one of the rooms where the KND test their 2x4 technology. She gives us the location and then leaves to follow Mandark and the rest. Once Computress leaves, we discuss amongst ourselves what we should do, and we unanimously decide to, at the very least, go to where the room is. After all, not only will the things going on in that room be important, as they'll be rebuilding the time machine in there, but it'll probably be interesting to watch what's going on and the construction of it all. Now having come to a decision, we leave the Briefing Room and head to Gumball and Penny, who are both not on the bench anymore and walking to us.

"How'd the thing go?" I ask. "Did you manage to talk that whole thing over?"

"Yeah," Gumball says. "We got it sorted out."

"What was it?"

"It was just... Uh... It's personal stuff."

"Well, I mean... If there's any way I could help, I'm fine with that."

"No, it's alright. It all happened in the past." He then lights up again. "Anyway, let's go see where they'll build the time machine!"

As our group goes across bridges and through hallways to get to where we need to be, we pass by all sorts of things, like the power core that is run by hamsters running on their little hamster wheels, that one room with the giant toilet that operatives use for goldfish goodbye ceremonies, a couple of the rooms mentioned earlier (such as the Cheese Repository), and more. Once we reach the hallway leading straight to the building room, we can see a large group of people surrounded by Mandroids at the very end, going through a large open door. But there's someone else who grabs our attention. From an intersection of hallways not far behind the entrance to the room, someone is watching the group. It's the girl who messed up the time machine experiment I was in. It's Dee Dee.

Like the first time I saw her, she's dressed in a pink tutu, white tights, and pink ballet shoes. Her blonde hair is still tied in pigtails as well. As for how sneaky she's trying to be, she's being a little less obvious by watching from the intersection instead of the way she was doing before. She hasn't noticed us yet, but she is leaning flat against the wall and turning to look down the hallway. If she were to turn back, she'd see us immediately. But we're still standing here. I glance at some of my other friends. While amused, most of them aren't even that surprised at what Dee Dee's doing. If anything, that's exactly what they expect from her at this point.

"Uh... Hello, Dee Dee," I say as I face Dee Dee again. She instantly stops looking at the others and straight to us.

 **"Hi!"** Dee Dee says loudly while waving to us. She springs to life and starts skipping to us, her shoes making a weird squishy sound with each step she takes. Once reaching us, she skips in circles around us. After stopping for a quick second, she resumes her dancing. After circling us a few times, she stops in her tracks. "Nice to meet you! You're that Mark guy, right?"

"Yeah, I am," I say. Even though it's to be expected, it's still strange how almost everyone in this Treehouse recognizes me.

"What were you talking about?"

"Oh, we were talking about how to bring me back to the past."

"Really?" Dee Dee says, leaning in toward me and listening eagerly. "How?"

"Well, we got this device known as the Synchronization Engine from Dexter while we were escaping from Dexlabs. Apparently, it's the central piece needed for the time machine. They're gonna be bringing the rest of the pieces that they could get really soon, and so I should be going back soon."

"Aww, but I just met you."

"Well, there's no reason we can't have hangouts prior to me going back."

"Oooh, that sounds fun!"

"Yeah!" Andrew says, once again sparking a bit with excitement. "Although it's gonna be a little weird. I mean, she did cause this whole time machine mess in the first place."

An awkward few moments of silence later, I say, "Well, I'm sure she didn't mean to send me that far."

"O-Of course not. I just wanted to know what was going on," Dee Dee says before her eyes are drawn to something. " _Oooooooh_ , what's that?" She walks up behind me and as I turn my head around, I see she's looking at the Lightning Gun I have.

"Oh, that's just his awesome **Lightning Gun**!" Gumball says, trying to deepen his voice when he says "Lightning Gun".

 _"Cooooool!"_ Dee Dee says, before just grabbing it.

"No, no, wait-" I say, but it's too late. Within moments, she's looking at the Lightning Gun from tons of angles, like into the energy chamber, the handles, the power meter and more. It's almost just like when I first handed it to Andrew yesterday. Of course, unlike Andrew, her curiosity has no bounds. She starts moving all the dials randomly and checking to see if it did anything. She then puts her finger near the trigger while aiming it at the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," We all say as Evan takes Dee Dee's hand from the trigger. He takes the Lightning Gun out of her hands and hands it back to me.

"OK, Dee Dee, that's enough for now," Evan says as I check what Dee Dee did to the dials. Well... she turned the amperage way high to about... 100 mA. Since it doesn't sound safe, I turn it all the way down to the lowest level possible, which is 1. As for the voltage, Dee Dee set it way low already. Truth be told, I should probably have the voltage and amp levels way low whenever in a place where I don't need to fight. The dials are easy to reach whenever a fight starts.

"But I wanna see what it does," Dee Dee tries to reason with him.

"Maybe you can later, but not now," I say. "We're kinda in an enclosed space right now." I put the Lightning Gun back where I had it: A little strap that goes around my shoulder and down my back like the ones the soldiers have. It may not be as easy on my back, but it's easier than carrying it in my hands everywhere. "Anyway, is there anything else you want to know?"

"Oh, yes, actually!" Dee Dee says, gleaming with curiosity again. "I wanna know about-"

"Mark!" Numbuh Two says from the entrance. I turn and see him in the door frame, with Numbuh Five also exiting. "The materials haven't shown up yet, but if you want to look around where we'll be building the machine, you can see."

Dee Dee springs to life again and skips toward Numbuh Two, excited to see what's inside. Before she can make it, Numbuh Two immediately starts saying, "No! No! _You_ can't come in here!" She stops in her tracks.

"Awww. Why not?" Dee Dee says, disappointed.

Numbuh Five sighs. "Computress told us you might try something like this, and everyone knows what happened before with you and the time machine before. So sorry, but no. We can't afford to let you come in."

"But that's just going to make her more curious, though," Anais says. "That's literally exactly how the Boomerang Effect works."

Gumball and Andrew confused looks to what Anais just said, and then Andrew looks to me for the answer again. "Well, it's as Anais said," I say. "By restricting Dee Dee from going in, she'll just want to know more what's going on in there."

"That's a good point," Penny says. "You should just tell her."

"Fine, fine," Numbuh Five says. "This room is where we're going to be constructing the time machine."

"Wow! Can I see it? Can I see it? Can I see it?" Dee Dee says, jumping up and down and trying to look behind Numbuh Five. To combat this, Numbuh Five brings out a device that appears to be a smaller version of that holographic projector in the Briefing Room, except it's flatter and more disc-shaped. She presses a button, and the device reveals a small hologram of the time machine. Given the hologram's red tint, it's almost certainly Mandark Industries tech. Dee Dee then leans slightly forward, fascinated by what the holograms are displaying.

"We haven't got all the materials yet, but once we finish building it, this is what it should look like-"

Dee Dee then starts messing with the hologram itself, separating the time machine into all the individual pieces, eventually reaching the Synchronization Engine hologram. She then starts to separate that into its individual pieces as well. "Ooooh, what's this? Whoa, what is that?" she says roughly a dozen times in the process. Numbuh Five, realizing how long she'll have to do this, just tells us to go inside while she holds off Dee Dee. After all, it's better to let her deconstruct a hologram of it rather than the actual thing. So while Numbuh Five has Dee Dee occupied, the rest of us sneak by and into the room.

"You know, Mark, we saw her outside the room you guys were in earlier," Gumball says. "She was just peering in and then left right after Andrew showed up with that engine thingy."

"I thought there was somebody there, but I was moving so fast that it wasn't clear. She must've been in my... whatever you call the edge of your vision."

"Peripherals," Anais and I both say at the same time. My playground instincts quickly kick in and I say "Jinx," as fast as possible to avoid muteness. I am successful in this attempt, maybe even too successful. Anais never even opened her mouth to try and say "Jinx" before me. Huh... Anais looks at me, then to my other friends. She's then about to say something, but Gumball zips over and stops her from speaking.

"Remember, you can't speak until he says your name. That's the rules of the game," Gumball says. Anais does a silent sigh, accepts that she's been jinxed, and we move on to actually look around the Construction room. The room is square-shaped, with various doors on different sides of the room allowing access to other hallways and platforms. Many different KND 2x4 inventions are in this room, either on shelves or scattered around the place. Most of the light in this room is coming from skylights in the ceiling. One of them shines directly onto the center of the room. Operatives and Mandroids are moving all the other 2x4 stuff out of the room to make space for where the time machine's gonna be, while Computress and Mandark are bickering about something, which given the heavily apparent Dexter-Mandark rivalry, doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Upon getting closer, we find out it's about whether or not Mandark Industries should be credited for me being brought back.

" _I'm_ heading this whole project, so _I_ have the most control over it! Ergo, it should be made clear that **_I_** brought Mark back!" Mandark says.

"Dexter never gave you permission to change the time capsule how you feel without any hesitation," Computress retorts. "And given that he's currently missing, it is advised you should respect-"

"How is he gonna know?!"

"Guys, please, we don't need this drama," I say.

"Agreed," Computress says. "So we will keep it the same."

"Are you serious?" Mandark says. "The world needs to know that it was me who saved the planet!"

"Well, I mean, Mark's the one who's gonna be doing it," Lucas says. "But you are making what we'll need for him to save the planet so, I guess it still partially counts."

 **"HA!"** Mandark says, proudly officiating his ego.

"OK, personally, I don't really care what it looks like as long as it works. But let's just make a compromise for both of your sakes," I say, momentarily looking back and forth between Computress and Mandark. "We can have the Mandark logo on there to show that you were there to help me get back, but we don't need to go overboard and give the time machine a Mandark makeover or anything. Anyone else on board with that?"

Across the board, all my friends agree with my proposal. As I said, I personally don't care too much about the time machine's look. I just want it to work, and that's all I can ask for from it. But if anything can stop Computress and Mandark from continuing these shenanigans, this will help. That's when I feel someone tapping me on my leg. I look down and Anais is trying to tell me something. She's pointing to her mouth, and then to me. She's asking to undo the jinx.

 _"Is she suddenly mute? Why is she not speaking?"_ Robot Jones, who's still by Mandark's side, asks.

"She's just been jinxed," Andrew says. "The rule is that when the jinx is going on, she can't speak until Mark says her name again."

 _"[Searching 'jinxed']... Are you really saying Mark cast a spell on her?"_ Robot Jones gives an unamused look.

"No, no, no, it's just a game," I say. Anyway, Anais."

"Thank you," Anais says pretty much instantly.

 _"Huh... you people are weird."_

"Well, anyway... Are you two OK with that compromise?" I ask Mandark and Computress.

"Yes," Computress says.

"Fine," Mandark says. Right after that, I hear Dee Dee laughing, along with those squishy footsteps sounds again. I turn around and see that Dee Dee's running around the room, looking at everything she can with a huge smile on her face. In the end, Numbuh Five's defenses against her were obviously not enough to hold her back.

 **"Get her out of here now!"** Numbuh Five says. Operatives hurry over to her as she starts playing with a **P.U.T.T.U.H.** she just grabbed off a shelf. As a result, they have to chase her around as she flies around the room, laughing contently and leaving tapioca pudding everywhere. Did I mention that's what the **P.U.T.T.U.H.** blasts to propel its users? The Kids Next Door comes up with the weirdest things, which is why it's so fun to be part of it. All sorts of crazy gadgets are available, and lots more are made all the time. Heck, some will even customize their weapons to have special aspects, like how Amanda did with our weapons. In fact, Amanda told me earlier that after being recommissioned, she wanted to come up with a more effective kind of **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** that did more than just firing normal teddy bears, and so she created the device I saw Evan using during the battles in Tech Square, with all the special kinds of teddy bear bombs.

I know Andrew must have loved it when he first joined the KND. He was probably beaming the very moment that he knew it was real. Since they used the secret elevator, they would have been directed to Sector TV-Underground. That'd definitely be one of the good KND sectors to see first, as it has all sorts of cool places. The Video Game Zone definitely comes to mind. I would kill to go back there... if the targets were Fusion Monsters. I'm not planning on killing anything else but Fusion Monsters.

During this whole Dee Dee incident, Mandark is just watching it happen. I turn to look at him, and the look on his face clues me in to what is going on in his mind. The expression he's making is almost exactly what lovestruck characters look like in the shows Andrew and I watch. And since he's watching everything Dee Dee's doing as she flies across the room and causing chaos, I automatically know what's up. And it's hilarious. Not because Mandark's got a crush: That's totally fine. But what makes me crack up is that of all people Mandark's got a crush on, it's his rival's sister.

Eventually, the combined effort of the Mandroids and operatives manage to get Dee Dee out of the room. Once Dee Dee's gone, Mandark almost immediately transitions back into work mode, ordering the operatives to go back to business and continue clearing out the room.

"Anyway, is there any way we can help you guys right now?" I say.

"I guess we could use some extra hands with clearing out everything else here," Numbuh Two says. "It would make this more efficient."

"Well, Andrew could just use his super speed and bring everything out in a flash, right?" Gumball asks, and then almost all of us turn to Andrew. Now that Andrew has super speed, it seems that he's automatically who everyone turns to in order to get things or clear things up in a short amount of time. But in this case, it looks like Andrew's fine with that. He gives us a smile, before beginning. After a few seconds of loud whooshing noises and bright trails of energy, Andrew stops in the center of the room, and all the things they were going to clear out are gone. The operatives are just standing there, frozen with disbelief. They were just holding things to carry out, but they're not anymore because Andrew took those things out too.

"Wow! ...Can we get him to help with building the machine, too?" one operative asks. Andrew then looks to Mandark with interest, and I don't blame him. He'd probably be able to get the job done faster than the Mandroids could, and thereby get me back to the past faster. That is, of course, if he knew how to do that.

"We wish we could, but in order to rebuild the machine, the things needed to be done are so precise that only geniuses like myself and my Mandroids can do it properly," Mandark says. "Oh, and Computress, I guess."

"Well, is there anything else we could do to help?" Andrew asks.

"Well, other than maybe helping to bring the materials to this room before construction, there's not much that we'll absolutely need you for," Numbuh Two says. "So you guys can take a break while-" His NanoCom starts ringing, making the same musical sound that I heard on Dexter's NanoCom when we were escaping Dexlabs. But now, I know what that means. It's basically the Kids Next Door's theme song. It's always used prior to special announcements and the ringtone of operatives in the Kids Next Door. Funny enough, that craze is even in the real world, but it isn't known as the KND theme there. Numbuh Two answers the call, and I can hear what the other person's saying.

"Numbuh Two! This is Numbuh 705 requesting immediate backup! Our SCAMPER is under attack!" the voice says. The "under attack" part makes me focus on the call, and so do the rest of us. We also alert those among our friend group who didn't hear what we just heard.

"Numbuh 705, what's going on?" Numbuh Two asks, by which point, we're all paying close attention to the call.

"Our SCAMPER's carrying all the time machine equipment! Fusion Monsters are trying to attack it! We need backup now! We're trying to out-maneuver them, but they're gaining on us!"

"Thanks for telling us. We'll alert everyone right now." Numbuh Two closes the call, only to receive another call. When he answers this one, it's coming from the Genius Grove outpost. The caller, known as "Numbuh 8999", says that not long after the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. left with the time machine parts, their outpost started getting attacked. They're also getting reports that "the mall and other bases in Pokey Oaks are also being attacked too".

Evan starts running toward one of the southeastern doors. Maybe he's trying to find out what's going on and get a better look. Not knowing what else to do, I follow after him. The footsteps behind us indicate the rest are following us too. Andrew's speed allows him to catch up to Evan with no issue before going even further past him. We run for about a minute through the Treehouse before reaching a balcony that observes where Evan says the SCAMPER should be coming from. Andrew's here as well, pointing out to a small black dot on the horizon. That has to be the SCAMPER. That's when Numbuh Five's voice comes through all of our NanoComs:

 **"Kids Next Door... BATTLE STATIONS!"**

As the SCAMPER gets closer, I see flashes of green below it, that go up and close to it. I already know those are the Fusions attacking it. As the SCAMPER gets closer, so do the Fusion blasts. Despite the constant maneuvering, I know the Fusions are going to score a hit sooner or later. And this makes me feel dread. This could be the one thing that keeps me trapped here, in this apocalypse. The SCAMPER then swerves to the right and down low. I look to the ground, and I can see various monsters on the ground. I can't see them clearly, but the top looks cylindrical and there are various things coming out of them. I think they're slightly levitating off the ground too.

Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five catch up at this point because I hear him call Buttercup for assistance. "Buttercup! Are you there?!"

On the other side of the call, we can hear Fusion Monsters screeching and explosions. "Yeah! There's a lot of Fusion Monsters right now attacking the mall. Don't worry, I'm kickin' all their butts, but they just keep coming!" Buttercup says.

"Listen! That's nowhere near as important right now! The time machine materials are in danger! We need you to protect the SCAMPER now!"

"Alright, I'm on my way!" The call then ends there.

"But if they're also attacking those other areas, won't they need her help?" I ask.

"Don't worry, the operatives there will be OK. Boomer's probably there as well."

"Wait a sec! Boomer? Like, the Rowdyruff Boy?"

"Yeah," Amanda says. "Sometime after the Fusions' arrival, he turned to our side. And he's been trying to help ever since."

Huh... I would ask for the specifics on what brought him to our side, but we don't have time right now. Still, it's good we have another super-powered individual to help us out. At this point, Buttercup shows up, the green trail of light and loud whooshing sound revealing her presence. She starts zipping throughout the streets below, attacking the monsters that dare to damage the SCAMPER. At first, it seems like everything is under control, but suddenly, a surprise Fusion blast directly hits the SCAMPER from below, right into the engines.

The engines blow up and start emitting a ton of smoke as the SCAMPER rapidly loses altitude. The blast seems to have blown a hole directly into the SCAMPER, as many different things are falling out, such as boxes and other things. Like when I was on the COOLBUS and Fusion Buttercup attacked, the pilot must try to control it still, but it doesn't prove fruitful. It slams into the roof of one of the houses with such force that it tears the part it crashed into off. It then flips over, sending its contents everywhere, including more boxes, weapons, and even operatives. I see a specific box fly over another house before flying into the one right after it, smashing through the roof.

In this moment, my blood runs cold with fear. The SCAMPER's fallen between two houses and is heavily damaged. The roof of the house it first crashed into has collapsed and made the house a total wreck. I start breathing faster as I see the old residents of that house being evacuated, and the monsters heading toward the crash site as nearby KND operatives attack them. The screams can still be heard from up here, given how silent we all are right now.

"...Were these materials all just..." I start saying, but then I stop out of sheer horror. I really hope the materials didn't get destroyed during that crash.

"No," Numbuh Two says. "They'd be stored in those boxes, and they're hard to break when in there. We just... gotta get to them first before they do."

Almost immediately, a battle between the Fusion Monsters and the operatives starts. For the moment, things seem pretty even, but that could change at any moment. We need to help them. All the while, I hear the running about of many operatives in this part of the Treehouse, heading to a place where they get their weapons for combat. Since nobody but me has any sort of weapon or armor with them right now, as they weren't needed at the time, they'll need to get some now for them to properly hold off this attack. And speaking of which, I'll also need to get armor. My Lightning Gun is good, but if I don't have some sort of armor, it may mean nothing. Then again, the KND armor isn't the most advanced kind. But still, some extra KND armor is better than absolutely nothing.

We all run as fast as we can to one of the many Preparation Bays, which is thankfully close to the balcony we were just at. When I get one of the KND armor sets, I choose a blank one. Then I head over to the Shelf of Spray Cans so that I can put my operative number on there now. I grab the can, shake it and get ready to spray it, but then I come up with a more interesting idea.

"Numbuh Five?" I ask as I see her get her "specialized" KND armor, which in this case just has more armor made out of pieces of trash cans. I can't believe I thought they were steel when I didn't know what armor they were wearing.

"Yeah, Mark?"

"Is there a Numbuh M?"

"Not that Numbuh Five knows of. Where are you going with this?"

I look to the armor and then to the spray can in my hand. Numbuh Five automatically knows what I'm trying to say. "Fine, you can do it. We'll notify the operatives who you are so that you can be protected if worst comes to worst."

I nod and turn back to the armor, and spray the letter **"M"** on the chest plate. Once I get the armor on, it starts smelling like paint again. But compared to when that same smell led us to Dexter, it doesn't feel nearly as strong to faze me. That's when Evan walks up to me, holding his custom **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** again.

"M, huh?" Evan asks. "So you're no longer Numbuh 780?"

"I mean, everyone knows me as Mark now, and not that operative number. I figured it'd be easier for them to recognize me."

"Yeah, but the same can be said for the Fusions. Once they see a big ' ** _M'_** on you, they'll be bound to assume it's you."

"Well, it's not like we'll be near them this time. We can fight them from a distance or something."

"I guess that makes sense," Lucas says. "Given your importance right now, we can't afford to lose you."

"Well, that doesn't mean you should run into battle for me," I say jokingly. After sharing a quick chuckle, we ready our weapons and head out to battle, ready to try and get the time machine materials back to us before it's too late.


	12. Into The Fray

**_Mark - January 15, 2019 - 10:48 AM_**

Unlike the other operatives, who head off to fight on the front lines with Numbuh Five and Numbuh Two, our friend group heads to the balcony we were just at in order to assist with attacking from above. When we get there, I take my phone out of my pocket and access the hoverboard app. But it won't connect. Oh, right. I forgot. Most of the communications satellites were destroyed, and so unless one happens to come over the horizon and give me a signal, I can't get it.

"What are you doing?" Amanda asks.

"I was trying to call my hoverboard to me," I say. "But it's not working."

"Oh, the NanoCom can take care of that, too. Just click 'MISC.' and a hoverboard option should be there. Then put your hoverboard's serial number in there, and you should be fine."

Huh... I head back to the NanoCom's main screen and see the **"MISC."** option. This opens up more options, but I only click the **"HOVERBOARD"** button. After inputting my hoverboard's serial number and getting a prompt to confirm who I am, I successfully register my hoverboard into the NanoCom. I'm then prompted with a single holo-button: **"CALL HOVERBOARD"**. I press it, and another screen appears that indicates some sort of weird "instant transportation" process. After only a few seconds, there's a flash of light near me, and the hoverboard is right by my side. It teleported straight to me. OK, that is awesome and way more efficient than it used to be. Well, I'm not going to use it right now, but it's better to have it just in case.

I head to the edge of the balcony and start firing at the monsters. I'm obviously using my Lightning Gun. Andrew's using, well... his own powers. He blasts energy out from his hands in either concentrated beams or balls of energy. They're definitely doing damage to the Fusions, so it helps. Evan's blasting all kinds of teddy bears at the monsters, some exploding, some incendiary and some freezing things. Amanda's got a **S.H.A.V.E.R.A.M.A.** , which is even stylized with purple colors in some places. It's blasting extremely quick electric razors that can rip through all sorts of things, but she isn't using the shaving cream bombs right now. Lucas is using his specialized version of the **S.C.A.M.P.P.** , which fires energy projectiles using the power of soup cans. It's cooler than it sounds. But the specialized version he's got allows him to blast farther and with better accuracy. Jade's pointing out where any enemies are so that we can attack them, and creating crystal projectiles to drop on them if they get near our platform. The crystals really tear into the monsters and do damage when they hit them, and so she's doing it frequently.

Gumball's got a **G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A.** , which is fitting for obvious reasons. As for Anais, she's being more strategic with her weaponry, since she's wielding a bag full of **M.A.R.B.L.E.** s and a **S.P.I.C.E.R.** That's a pretty good combination, actually. She can throw the explosive marbles to disorient them and then shoot them with a heat ray before they can recover. But Penny? She doesn't have a weapon right now. She had a normal **S.C.A.M.P.P.** , but she's no longer holding it. She's just watching the unfolding chaos down below. She's taking in all the screams, explosions and sounds of war, and she's getting visibly angrier by the second. Then, at one point, when I hear a distant series of cries for help, she reaches her breaking point. She jumps up, using her current wings to hover a bit. Then in a fraction of a second, her whole body morphs into something much larger.

The initial surprise of her drastic change in size throws me off for a second, and I even back up just in case something were to hit me. When she lands back on the balcony, it shakes the whole thing, and I get a little worried for a sec that the whole thing's gonna break. Thankfully, it doesn't. Upon landing, I see that she's now become a dragon. A dragon... I mean, Amanda did say she had that form, but it's still crazy to actually see it. The main color that makes up the body and her four legs are a dark reddish-pink, while her wings, neck, head, and tail become a lighter, yellowish-orange color as you get further from the body. Even if her dragon features are more smooth than I would expect from a dragon, I still believe she could deal damage in this form. She's still got those same antlers, too. I guess every form she's got has them.

"Hang on to something," Penny says, her voice much deeper now. I don't waste a second before grabbing the rail and holding on tightly. She raises her wings and then flaps them downward, causing a major gust of wind to knock us back. She takes off into the sky as the gust recedes, allowing us to get up safely. We all watch as Penny goes higher in the sky, and then dives down toward the battle. Everything goes silent for a moment until her fire breath burns right through a whole platoon of Fusion Monsters.

 **"YEAH! GO, PENNY, GO!"** Gumball says, cheering on Penny as she starts flying up again, getting ready for another dive. OK, that's enough dragon-related eye candy for now. I stop focusing on Penny and back to the monsters again. Up here, we're at relative safety compared to those fighting below. Of course, the more we blast at the monsters, the more they try to blast up back at us. Some of my friends have these pepper-shaped devices on their belts. I see Lucas pull the stem off of one of his and throw it down below. It falls into a small crowd of the monsters and explodes as soon as it hits the ground, burning the monsters and sending out a wave of flames toward those nearby.

The amount of different kinds of monsters on the battlefield right now is absolutely unreal. There's many that I've already seen, but there's also some made from cars or bits of the road itself, some with fire hydrants for hands... There's even a large one in the distance made from an excavator. I'm glad I'm not gonna have to fight that one anytime soon.

Things seem to be working well, but despite our defenses and relentless attacks (which Penny has helped immensely with), the Fusions are attacking from several different angles, which makes it hard to fully defend the materials. Buttercup swoops in to try and grab them, but the monsters keep attacking her and sending her away from them. A ton of large monsters literally throw themselves at Buttercup to trick her into fighting them and taking her time away from the materials. And it's working. She keeps on fighting them and not going for the materials.

No matter how many monsters we destroy, more of them keep coming. I'm surprised we've been able to hold the line so far, but the Fusion Monsters are relentless. They're pulling all sorts of stunts to try to push back or break through the line, and they're currently making progress on that front because they've almost reached the materials. Heck, I think some of them are there. Regardless, these operatives need all the help they can get.

 **"ERUPTION UNDER US!"** Jade says. Wait, what? What the heck is an Eruption? I jump on my hoverboard and head past the edge of the balcony to see what's going on, and it becomes obvious very fast. One of the Fusion Monsters is doing something to the ground, and whatever it is, it's making it all green, glowing and bubbly. It's not long until I realize what's about to happen.

"Wait, where is it going to hit, Jade?" Andrew asks.

"I can't tell! It's definitely going to hit this balcony, that's for sure!" After that, everyone scrambles to different parts of the balcony, but they're unsure of where to go. Gumball, for instance, looks back and forth rapidly to two unfilled spots on the balcony before running to the one to his left as fast as he can. Once they reach their spots, they all try to attack the monster while simultaneously preparing for what's coming.

Despite us wounding the monster severely, it's not enough. A huge blast of Fusion Matter comes out of the ground faster than I can process it, and it blasts directly through the balcony's floor. It blows through the doorway and a bit further beyond, narrowly missing Anais by a few feet. Splinters of wood are blasted in random directions, and I barely dodge them. As soon as the attack stops, I look back to the balcony. It seems nobody was seriously hurt, although some are trying to remove splinters. As for the balcony, there's a huge hole in the floor, with Fusion Matter lining the edges of it.

"Is everyone alright?" I ask. Everyone confirms that they're as well as they can be in this situation.

"I think we should move to a higher balcony," Jade says. "And we should alert the Kids Next Door about this."

"Good idea," Andrew says. He looks up and points at the one several floors above. "That looks like it's safe. Let's go to that one."

Andrew zooms off in search of the way to that balcony. My friends start following him, while Evan stops and looks at me, waiting for me to come along.

"You guys go! I'll meet you up there!" I say as I point up to the balcony where floating a little higher on my hoverboard. Evan nods and goes on his way. I start hovering up to the balcony, but just as I start, I hear something coming toward me. I look down just in time to see another blast of Fusion energy coming at my face.

I instinctively dive backward, just missing the blast, but I move so quickly that I fall off my hoverboard. But because of its programming to save riders that fall off, it rapidly descends and safely intercepts me, stopping my fall. Now I'm heading down and toward the battle. Thankfully, I'm still holding on to my Lightning Gun with one hand, while also desperately clinging to my hoverboard with the other. Knowing the precarious way I'm riding the hoverboard, it glides down in a way that I can keep myself stable until I reach the ground. But the only problem is that we're moving away from the Treehouse. I manage to regain a bit of control by steering my hoverboard toward a better landing area with the hand holding on to it.

I look down to the battle as I try to steer the hoverboard, and boy, is it chaotic down there. I can see the house that the SCAMPER crashed into, and the Fusions have pretty much made it there. While I see operatives trying to get things out, they're being attacked at the same time. I descend further until my hoverboard's at ground level, at which point I hurry off and take a few seconds to collect myself.

I'm not anywhere near the front lines, but I can hear the blasts, explosions, screeches and growls that are happening there. That, of course, doesn't mean there aren't Fusion Monsters elsewhere, such as when Fusion Spawns emerge from behind one of the houses in front of me. Once I see them, and they see me, I know what to do. They try to lunge at me, but by the time they're in the air, I've already blasted them down. I back up while shooting, and after blasting at them many times, they melt back into puddles of Fusion goo. I even blast one of the puddles to make sure it's actually dead.

I look back to the front lines and see even more of those Eruptions going up into the sky. I jump on my hoverboard and float a few feet up to get a clearer view of the battle. The most contested area of this battle is, without a doubt, the crash site. We need to push forward to get the materials, but I'm smart enough to know that with my current situation, I shouldn't dive head-first into the battle unless absolutely necessary. And so, I'm gonna assist them from here.

I float up to the roof of the house on my left so that I can get a clear shot on the Fusions, but not high enough so that they can one on me. I have a good view here. I can see most of the monsters in the street and the small park to its right. I fire at where the Fusions are, but I don't even know if I'm hitting them. After firing a few more bolts, I move closer toward the battle by getting back on my hoverboard and moving over the houses. When one of the monsters tries to blast at me, I realize how much of an easy target I am up here. At least down below, I'm not as obvious. I swerve down to the ground, and I land behind a large stack of boxes. When the monsters start coming our way again, they don't even notice me. I wait for the various monsters to get closer before I unleash lightning on them, scoring a ton of hits on them. There are many different kinds of them I can't even focus on what they are, and so I simplify the process by mentally classifying them all as one thing: a target for my gun to shoot at.

I keep holding my position, and I'm able to for a little bit until I hear distorted, shrill buzzing from my right. I turn to see what's causing the sounds, and sure enough, it's more monsters. They look like giant horned beetles made out of wood, with Fusion Matter slowly seeping from the cracks. Their horns consist of a large horseshoe magnet on the end sticking straight upward. For some reason, the magnets on some of the monsters are differently colored. They're either red, blue or yellows. One of these magnet-beetle monsters is much bigger than all the rest, and the wood it consists of is a dark green color, while its magnet is a much more prominent green.

There are around ten of these monsters, and they're not even paying any attention to us. Rather, they're headed through the little park, in the direction of the Treehouse. I immediately turn to these beetles and get ready to fire. Even if they aren't a direct threat, they could flank us or do something to the Treehouse, and I'm not willing to take any chances with these monsters. I, along with a few operatives, fire down at them with lightning, heat rays, and various other kinds of projectiles. These monsters then proceed to retaliate against us by blasting us with strange electrical energy. When these bolts hit something, Fusion Matter bursts out from the target area. One of these bolts directly hits the crate I'm hiding behind. As soon as the bolts stop firing, I lean out and fire back, directly hitting the horn of one of them a couple times before they start attacking and I have to take cover again.

As I take another look past the crate, the big, dark green magnet-beetle monster lowers their magnet-ended horn to the ground. Seconds later, the ground below us starts to go bubbly and green. It's doing the Eruption thing! I scream for the nearby operatives to get away from this area and we all do that. I run across the street, and between two of the houses as the sound of the Eruption temporarily overtakes everything else. I turn around and see that those crates are flying through the air. They land on the ground nearby with loud clanks and thuds, narrowly missing an operative by just a few feet. She looks in both disbelief at what just happened and relief that she was lucky to survive.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._ My NanoCom starts beeping loudly, and the holo-screen pops up to tell me I'm getting a call from Evan. I'm about to answer, but screeching comes from my right. I instinctively turn and fire before I can even check what it is. Thankfully, it was another Fusion Monster, but my blast didn't bring it down.

In the moments that the monster recovers from the blast, I get a closer look. It's big, almost 8 feet tall. The main part of its body consists of a huge cylindrical tangle of wires, which align themselves in the front to form spaces for two clearly visible, glowing red eyes. There are four long, wide, blue cables with wires coming out of them, which Fusion Matter splotches in some places. There are two smaller cables on the front that lose their blue covering and reveal thin, but much longer copper-colored cables with smaller green, glowing wires coming out of the ends. In the center of the tangle of wires, several wires go downward and converge into a claw shape. But that's all I can see before I have to shoot it again.

I throw my hoverboard behind myself as I shoot the wire-monster. Given my hoverboard is still active, it'll reorient itself and start floating above the ground. The wire-monster starts blocking my shots with its smaller cables as I jump onto the hoverboard. Then it starts quickly forming a Fusion blast itself and fires, narrowly missing me. I move backward while shooting it, and it implants its wide cables into the ground. As I continue moving back, I hear that grumbling noise again. I look down at the ground below me. Nothing. I look back up at the wire-monster and shoot at it, before stopping on my hoverboard. But the grumbling sound hasn't gone away. In fact, it's now directly below me. I look down, and the ground all beneath my hoverboard is turning greener and more infected. I don't even take the time to make sure that's an Eruption Attack or not before I take off upward and to the right. Even then, I'm too late.

The Fusion Matter erupts from the ground with a deafening boom and slams directly into my hoverboard. The force of the Eruption, as well as the resulting blast of wind, launches me forward and into the air. The next few seconds are a complete blur as I am unable to focus on anything but my own safety. In my panic, I hold my arms in front of my face to protect myself from anything that comes near. My NanoCom starts beeping again as I land on the roof of a house. There's a clanking sound, I let go of my Lightning Gun and I start rolling down the roof until I fall through a hole in it.

* * *

 _ **Andrew** _

"Where's Mark?" I ask as my other friends come through the doorway to the balcony.

"Wait, he's not here?!" Evan says.

"No, he's not!"

"But... He said he'd be up here! He was going up there on his hoverboard the last time I saw him!"

"Well, where could he have gone?" Lucas says.

I look over the edge of this balcony, to see if the answer is down below. I don't see any trace of him.

"What if something happened?!" I ask, becoming more worried.

"I'll call him," Evan says, and we wait for Mark to pick up. But he never does. The call dies.

"Well... Maybe he ended up going down to the battle, and he's not responding to your calls because he can't afford to," Gumball says. "Would you be able to easily answer a call from someone during a fight?"

"I guess so, but we need to get to him before something bad happens," Evan says. "Andrew, have you found any clues?"

"I haven't found anything yet... Try calling him again."

Evan goes back to his NanoCom and tries to call him a second time, but it ends just like the last call. You know what? I'm not going to wait around for an answer. If Mark's down there, he needs my help. And so I run. I run as fast as I possibly can without causing complete havoc in the Treehouse. I reach the ground floor in very little time, and head to the edge facing the battle, trying to look around the area for Mark. I start scanning each area of the battlefield to see if there's anyone or anything that I could use to recognize Mark, but there's so much activity happening down below, though, that I have no idea where to start.

Penny passes by, making another pass at the monsters and breathing another round of fire. I call out her name to grab her attention, but it happens during one of her fire breaths, so she doesn't hear it. Then she starts flying in another direction. I look around, trying to find some other way, and Buttercup stops near us and uses her laser vision to decimate a group of monsters trying to flank an operative group.

"Buttercup!" I say, and this time, I do grab her attention.

"Yeah?" Buttercup says.

"Mark's down there! Can you find where he is?"

Buttercup nods and turns back to the battle. She flies up a bit to get a better view, and her eyes start glowing bright green. She looks around the battlefield much like I was, but since that appears to be her X-ray vision, it'll be a little easier.

"There's too many people and Fusions... I can't make out any specific person as Mark. I'll start looking, though-"

A blast of Fusion Matter directly hits Buttercup from the side, but since she's superhuman, she doesn't take any damage from it like a normal person would. "Oh, you..." She says, before flying off toward where the blast came from. OK, maybe this won't work out as well with Buttercup. It'll take a little longer, at least. By this time, Penny comes back. I call out her name as well, and Gumball helps me to get her attention. She lands down next to us.

"What's going on, Andrew?" Penny says.

"We have to find Mark! He's down there and we need all the help we can get! Just... be careful about where you breathe your fire. He could be anywhere down there."

"You won't need to worry about that," Penny says. "I can help find him!" She then takes off into the air and starts flying around the nearby area. At this point, my friends all show up again.

"Andrew! We know how to find Mark!" Jade says. "We can locate where he is on your NanoComs' maps! We can get to him!"

"Where is he?" I ask.

"He's down in the battle, unfortunately," Evan says. "But we've figured out the vicinity of where he is. We'll find him. You probably will get to him first, though."

"Heh... Well, Penny's looking for him right now," I say. "You tell them where I am, and I'll head to him!"

"You sure you can do that by yourself? I can help you out," Jade says.

"Alright, you can. But I'll probably be way ahead of you."

All my friends ready their weapons as I get ready to use my powers. Mark hasn't seen me actually use them in full-on combat yet, so this should be fun. Actually, ever since we evacuated from Tech Square, I haven't been in a single fight, at least of this scale. I won't mind fighting these monsters again, though. We all head to the nearest zipline post, ready our weapons (or myself in my case), and go down into the fray.

* * *

 _ **Mark**_

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

This is literally the noise I wake up to, and it's not stopping. If I can, I really gotta change that to something less annoying. I try to move to turn it off, but it stops by itself before I can do that. I'm still sore from all the fighting yesterday, and what just happened hasn't helped anything. Thankfully, I'm so filled with adrenaline right now that I don't feel much pain at the moment. I keep looking up at the huge hole in the ceiling. For a moment, I just stare at the green sky and clouds above, with the little red flickering of embers, and I feel compelled to just lie here for a little while longer. But before that happens, a distant explosion snaps me out of this trance. Once I return to my senses, I jump up and scramble for a corner of this room, expecting to be attacked by monsters. But none are here... yet.

I'm in some sort of bedroom. There's a large window behind me, the door's on the most left side of the wall across from me, and that's as much of the room I give myself the time to survey before I start thinking about what I need to do next. How long has it been? I check my time on the NanoCom and find that it's 11:05 AM. I don't know if I was out for just a few moments or a few minutes. Regardless, I know I can't just stay here.

Sooner or later, a rogue explosive, laser, Fusion Matter blast or something else is gonna come in and destroy tons of things, possibly including me if I stay. Even with the low probability that this part of the battlefield won't ever get messed up, I don't want to take that chance. I get up and start looking around the room for the Lightning Gun, but I'm faced with a major problem: I can't see it. I do a quick search of the room to see if it may have gone anywhere out of my sight, but the bad news becomes clear: It isn't in this room at all.

I peek out the window, and into the backyard. The Lightning Gun's not there, either. It's at this point I get 1000% more freaked out. OK, well... I'll just call my hoverboard and get the heck out of here. Maybe it's OK. I go through my NanoCom to call my hoverboard again, but when I press the button, the screen doesn't show up. Instead, I get an alert saying that my hoverboard can't be located. That Eruption must have broken it.

So... I've got no weapon, no hoverboard, and I'm smack dab in the middle of this battle. It's like when I first arrived here all over again. Well, I definitely know my first priority now: I need to find something, _**anything**_ , to fend off the monsters. Heck, even if it has to a be a metal pipe like it was when I was running from the Cyberusses, I'll be fine with that. I just need a way to defend myself. Then I'll worry about getting out of here.

I go through the exit door on the other side of the room and wander into a hallway. The room I was in is at the end of the hallway, and it goes to my right to the other side of the house, where a door to another room awaits. The door's open, and there's dust all outside it. I slowly walk down the hallway and reach a crossroads with the open door on the right and the hallway on the left. I stop at the door and look inside the room it leads to. It's another bedroom. Unlike last time, I do get a chance to see a few more details. There's a blue-sheeted bed in the corner, green and yellow floormats, another huge window on the other side of the room, and boxes that look like treasure chests. To add the icing on the "this is a younger kid's room" cake, there's a huge collection of stuffed animals on a cushion in the corner.

There's a big, wooden box by the bed that's also in a bad state, broken open with things all over the floor. I think there might be something in there that I could use. My decision is made for me when I hear strange noises downstairs. I look left and see the entrance to a stairway that goes down and then to the left. Past that, there are faint snarling and bouncing noises becoming clearer. I don't bother checking if whatever it is down there is a Fusion Monster or not. I head into the other bedroom and slowly close the door. I check to see if there's a lock on the door, but there isn't. I gotta find something to hold the door back. Uh... OK, what is there I can use? My eyes are drawn to a large, dark blue dresser. I head over to it and pull it as quietly as I reasonably can in front of the door. It still makes noise, though. I get the dresser in front of the door and back away. Well... If something does try to get in here, it'll be slowed down a little. Even so, I need to be prepared just in case. So hopefully, somewhere in this room, there will be something good to fight with.

The first thing is the large box. It must have come through the roof because there's still dust settling from a hole in the ceiling. It also seems that when it landed, it hit the bed so hard that it dented it **and** burst open upon landing. So many things are all over the floor, and they look like they could be weapons. But many are broken apart, and the ones that aren't are rather messed-up. There's what I think was meant to be a hammer with purple crystals as the ends, but those came off, leaving it just a staff. I'll consider using this if there's nothing else that's good. Then there's this one thing that I don't even know what it was meant to be, but I know I can't use it because the fall made it break into several pieces. There's one of those custard-blasting pistols, but the custard storage part's been burst open and its contents are now all over the floor. I do a quick search of the rest of the box, and everything else is unusable. Wait... maybe not all of them.

I didn't notice that there's another weapon lying on the far side of the bed. It's definitely a sword-like weapon, and while I would prefer something more ranged, it's better than nothing, I suppose. I grab the hilt and do a quick examination. The blade is red, and the thinner sides of it are a bluish color. There's a button on the hilt, too, the function of which I don't know yet. I press it anyway just to see what it does, and the thinner sides start to glow, and an electric hum starts coming from it. OK, I'm just gonna roll with this. It's not like I have a choice in the matter, anyway.

The noises get closer. I know I have to get ready for a fight if necessary, and so I go to my NanoCom and bring out my Buttercup nano. In hindsight, I should've used it earlier, but I was too caught up in the moment to do so without putting myself at risk. I make a mental note to bring out my Nano the next time I enter battle. I try to be as silent as possible when bringing the Nano out, and when she leaves from the flash of red light, I instantly urge her to be quiet. While she's not a fan of that, I whisper that I want us to get the jump on whatever's on the other side. And we wait. The bouncing and growling noises get closer, and then right outside the door. But then the noises pass by us. I think we're in the clear, but then my NanoCom goes off again.

I glance at the NanoCom's holo-screen and see that Evan's trying to call me again. I decline the message as soon as possible to stop the call because I can't afford to call him right now. But I know I'm too late. Whatever is there certainly knows that someone is in this room now. I hear them come up to the door, and slam on it. They do this several more times, and when it doesn't seem to work, the bouncing noises start going away and then into the other room. Huh. Well, either they gave up, or I'm no longer a priority target. Well... They could be going over there to lure me into an ambush. If I try to leave, they may attack me. Well, I have my Buttercup nano, and it destroyed that Tech Wing in one blow. Besides, I can't just stay in this room when they know where I am.

"So, are we gonna attack 'em or what?" the Nano says.

"What we're going to do is get out of this house, and we certainly will end up fighting things along the way." She smiles at the thought of that. "But first, we gotta move this dresser-"

I go to the dresser to start moving it, but the Buttercup nano grabs the whole thing, picks it up and throws it with enough force to crash through the wall that separates the two bedrooms. I hear it slam through the wall and into what's on the other side, and it even tears up the floor there, as the dresser hit the wall from a higher angle.

"...Or we could do that." As the dust settles, we see several Spawns on the other side. Now that they've been aggravated thanks to what my Buttercup nano did, they start making shrill hiss-like noises before bouncing toward us. My Buttercup nano goes for one of them, that same green light trail behind her. She punches one of the Spawns and sends it back into the room and directly into the bookcase.

The Spawns that aren't trying to attack my Nano obviously go for me. Right now, two of them are trying to do just that. When the Spawn jumps at me, I swipe down at it and score a direct hit on it. Upon doing so, the sword makes an electrical buzzing noise and sends an electrical current into the Spawn. It must be really strong, as the Spawn starts shaking and screeching for enough time that I can hit it again. Next up is the other spawn, which jumps straight at me as well, and I similarly intercept its path with the sword. There's a temporary trail of electric blue light that follows the sword as I swing it. It doesn't last that long, but it's there. In the brief, second-long interval of respite before I have to fight off the Spawns again, I flick my wrist to see if the trail appears again when the sword moves, and it does.

And here comes the first Spawn again. It catches me slightly off guard because the Buttercup nano gets slammed into the wall by one of the other Spawns at the same time. It uses this distraction as an opportunity to lunge at my face. I dive backward and to the left to avoid getting hit in the face, and land back-first on the bed. I jump up and attack in the Spawn's general vicinity and end up stabbing straight through the Spawn. It screeches for a couple seconds until it can't hold on anymore.

The Second Spawn headbutts me in the back, knocking me against the wall. I turn around and kick the Spawn as it reaches me. I kick multiple times to get it to back up, and once it's a little farther away, I scramble over to it with my sword and swing at it. Apart from getting shocked, it temporarily gets disoriented, allowing enough time for me to swipe again, and again, and again until it loses its cohesiveness and liquefies into a puddle of goo. I stand over the puddle for a second, catching my breath after that battle. But I also keep coughing because this whole house smells of smoke and dust. I look at the sword and see that it's zapping the Fusion Matter off of it. That's cool. It's doing pretty well, too, given the circumstances of what I just had to use it for. As for my armor... It's doing alright, too, although there are some clear Fusion Matter stains on them. I lift my foot off the ground, and I see that there's Fusion Matter all over the bottom of my shoe. Given what I've heard about Fusion Matter and how it can infect all sorts of things, I quickly stomp my foot on the ground and wipe it on the carpet to get as much of it off my shoe as possible. I'm not taking any chances. When I take a second look, it looks like I was successful, as there's not much of it left on anymore.

When I turn back to the Buttercup nano, she is flying in circles around the final Spawn in the room and hitting it from angles where it can't attack. Not long after I turn to her, she lands the final hit on the tired Spawn and it turns into yet another Fusion goo puddle.

"That was weird," the Nano says, shaking Fusion Matter off her fists.

"What do you mean?"

"I was able to beat some of them with just a hit or two, but that one took, like, four of five hits."

"Huh..."

"Not that I'm complaining, of course. That means I could kick its butt longer!"

I chuckle. "Anyway, let's get outta here!"

We leave the room and enter the hallway, ready to get out of this house. There are splotches of Fusion Matter all over the floor in the hall, and also on the stairway. The Nano never strays more than a few feet from me as I go down the stairs. When I get further down, I can see the front door, the glimpse of freedom from this house. I reach the bottom and immediately realize I'm not alone. There's something in the doorway across from this room. I look and it's some sort of bluish-gray bicycle monster. The wheels aren't even where they should be. In fact, it looks like part of what would be the front wheel makes up the monster's neck, and the back wheel is not even on the ground. It also has legs, too. Other than that, the front of the monster looks almost like that of the front of a normal bicycle, but the handlebars have been twisted into the shape of curled horns.

This monster sees me, makes an aggressive stance, and we stare at each other for a second. I know that it's going to charge, and I prepare for that inevitability by backing up toward the stairs and holding my sword straight out toward it. It makes a roaring sound before it charges at breakneck speed. I get the heck out of its path and run halfway up the stairs again. It has no chance to turn given its fast speed, and charges right into the wall with such force that it goes partially through and gets stuck in it. It then starts thrashing about violently to try and get unstuck. This is the perfect opportunity to strike.

 **"NOW!"** I say, and my Buttercup nano slams down on it with a fast punch. This heavily messes up a part of the monster's side, and I even see one of the gears on its side pop off. I slice down on the monster with my sword and manage to cut through some of it. When I'm about to attack it again, it manages to pull itself out of the wall. The plaster that was in that part of the wall goes everywhere, and it stares at me with an even more hate-filled look. As it gets ready to charge at me again, I'm faced with one of two choices: I either head back up into the hallway or dive over the stairs. When the monster charges, I instinctively throw myself over the railing and fall to the floor, landing on my right side.

I take a moment to recover from the fall before I get myself back up. My Nano flies to me as I check myself to see if I'm OK. Well, reasonably OK. I mean, after the rolling down the roof, fighting these monsters and this fall, on top of everything leading up to those events, I look like I wrecked badly at Cutts n' Bruises Skate Park right now. I take a look in a small mirror that's on the wall, and yeah, I look exactly like Aidan did when he tried to pull that crazy maneuver at that park, and then ended up rolling all the way down the crazy-huge half-pipe... and off into the rail. And then his skateboard hit him in the face.

"Here, let me help you," my Buttercup nano says as she starts charging up energy. She then releases that energy in the form of a shockwave in all directions. When that shockwave hits me, I suddenly feel way better than I did right after the fall, although it also makes me a tiny bit numb. I look at my hands again, which was pretty bruised up before, and now they look way better. I look back to the mirror, and I look nowhere near as bruised up as before. I mean, there's still some there, but they're not as bad.

 **"LOOK OUT!"** My Buttercup nano says. I turn around and see the bicycle monster is back, looking down at us with rage in its eyes. I know it's gonna charge again, and I waste no time to run out of its path. I end up running away from the front door because it'd be harder for it to turn that way based on the angle it's coming from. I look back as it charges through the railing and starts turning toward me mid-fall. It hits the mirror on the wall and smashes it to pieces, but it doesn't get stuck in the wall this time.

The Nano swoops down on it and punches it again, knocking it into disarray. In this brief moment, I run up toward the monster and bring my sword directly upon its head. This causes a ton of damage to its front, and I end up even cutting one of the horns off, but it's still not enough. As it starts to recover, I back up again so that my Nano can get another hit in. But this time, the monster was prepared, and it charges with all its might at the Nano and hits her directly. She gets sent flying into the wall and collapses to the floor. Oh, no! Did she just... I momentarily assume the worst, but then she starts glowing bright red and is beamed back into my NanoCom. Uh... OK. I guess it just comes back in when it takes too much damage. Hopefully, it'll replenish there. But right now, I've got a much bigger problem to worry about.

The monster charges full speed at me with everything it's got, roaring loudly. This time, I know there's no running away from this. Even if I tried to run, it would trample me in seconds. I stand my ground and get ready to strike. The moment it's about to reach me, I swing at the monster with all the force I can muster, and I slice downward directly through it. Right when I slice completely through it, the roaring stops. Since it's still moving at fast speed, it knocks me over and it lands on top of me. But it isn't moving anymore, which is a very good thing. I quickly force what's left of the monster off of me before it can start breaking down into Fusion Matter. I get up and head to the other side of the room and take a few seconds to catch my breath as the monster, like all the rest, starts turning to a puddle of goo.

I activate my NanoCom to see what happened to my Nano, and I get this message on the holo-screen:

 _"Your Buttercup Nano has been returned to **Nano Systems** after running out of energy.  
The minimum time to bring it out again will be only 2-3 minutes, but it is recommended that you do not re-summon for around 5-10 minutes so that it can replenish all its lost energy."_

OK, so she didn't die. That's a relief, but even so, she was a major help in dealing with these monsters. Well, if I had my Lightning Gun with me it would've been a lot easier to deal with them, but I am slowly starting to get the hang of using this sword. My mind is then drawn to another notification below the Nano one: _**"MISSED CALLS - EVAN (4)"**_. Well, since I don't think any monsters are near me right now, I can finally call Evan back. I press the "missed calls" notification, and I instantly starting calling Evan. After a couple rings, Evan answers. The holographic button disappears, and in its place is a hologram of Evan.

"Mark! We've been trying to call you for a while! Are you OK?" Evan says, already barraging me with questions.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm as OK as someone can be in my situation," I say. "What's the progress on the materials?"

"Not good. They got to the crash site and grabbed all the stuff that was in the crashed SCAMPER. They're all over the place now. We're just killing as many monsters as we can in the hope that some of the materials are there."

"Well, have you been able to find anything?"

"We've got some things and some of the materials, but it's not enough. We're fighting as hard as we can."

"I should be helping you, then! Where are you?"

"We're heading to you. Don't worry about us trying to figure you where you are. We already know your location."

"How?"

"Well, since we're contacts on the NanoCom, we will show up on that map you can project."

"Wait, really?" I go to the sidebar on the side of the holo-screen and look at the available options. The options expand when I hover my finger by that part of the hologram, and one of says **"FIND CALLER ON MAP"**. I press it, and a holo-screen is projected on the side that shows a 3-D map of the Sector V area. At first, it just shows the house and the general area, but there's a yellow arrow pointing in the bottom left direction. After I zoom out, I see exactly where Evan and most of my friends are on the map. They're just a block or so away from me, actually. What's interesting is that I can tell, to some extent, who is who. For instance, I can tell which one of the icons is Andrew's, because it's going much faster than everyone else's, and zipping all over the place. His icon is much closer than the rest of them, although it stops every so often.

"I see you guys!" I say. I head to one of the windows and quickly look out to see if there's anything specific about this house that will help them find me. "I'm, uh, in a house that has a huge hedge on its right, and... Oh, wow."

There's a gigantic, red car-monster of sorts coming down the street from the left. Every step it makes as it goes into the lawn makes the whole place shake. The headlights are shining bright yellow light beams on everyone in close proximity, and it's chasing several operatives right now. When it starts turning in my direction, I immediately back away from the window, and just in case it decides to come for me, I head all the way to the back of the house.

"Uh, do you guys see a giant car-monster coming down the street?" I ask.

"Huh?" Evan says. I look to his hologram, and it looks like he's running to somewhere. I then see him looking around, and then he stops after facing a certain direction. "Oh, I see what you mean. That Junkasaurus Wrecks. W-r-e-c-k-s, though, Mark, not the regular 'Rex'."

"...OK? Well, anyway, I'm in the house directly to its right!"

"Alright! Don't leave that house! We'll get it to come over here so that Andrew can get to you! Just hold on!"

"Alright, see you in a bit," I say, before hanging up the call. There's a loud, metallic-sounding roar, and then the ground starts shaking a little more than before. The Junkasaurus Wrecks is moving. That name... Who the heck comes up with these things? I have to find them and give them a medal. And if they're dead now, I'll find them and give them a medal in the past. Actually... Then that means from their perspective, I would've come up with the name first... And so I'd be giving myself the medal. My train of thought is abruptly cut off by an explosion and more blasting sounds. Then there's a metallic moan, and then a crash. And with that, I know exactly what pun Numbuh Two would say. That monster is now possibly a wreck.

Since Andrew's going to be here really soon, I just decide to wait in the foyer of this house. I go back to the holo-map again and see Andrew's icon rapidly approaching the house. And not even 5 seconds after I open the map, I hear the zooming noises stop right outside the house, followed by knocking at the door. He's here.

"Mark! Mark! Mark! Mark-" Andrew starts repeating my name over and over while knocking on the door really fast.

"It's OK, Andrew! I'm here!" I say as I run up to the door and open it. As soon as I open it, I'm hit full force with another Andrew hug. Like with many of his hugs, we both fall over upon him hugging me, but I don't care about that. Andrew's attention is then quickly caught by my sword.

"Whoa, this is a cool sword!" Andrew says as he picks it up and starts looking at it. "How in the world did you get THIS? And where's... Where's your Lightning Gun?"

"I don't know where it is. I haven't been able to find it yet. As for the sword, I got it because in that room up there, a box had fallen through the roof and burst open, and all these things came out. This was the only one that was mostly unscathed."

Usually, I'd expect Andrew to give me the "What does that word mean?" look, but he doesn't. Well, I guess that does save me the time of simplifying the word so that he understands it. I then give him a very basic summary of what happened up to now after we got separated. Andrew then tells me that he can start looking for my Lightning Gun.

"You remember having it before you fell through the hole in the roof, right?" Andrew asks. When I say yes, he zips upstairs for a few moments, and I hear him leave the house entirely. Looks like I'm alone again. But if Andrew's speed is anything to go by, it won't be for that much longer. As I wait, I hurry up and close the door before any of the monsters outside can tell I'm here. I hear the flapping of large wings, indicating Penny's nearby as well.

 **"FOUND IT!"** Andrew says. "Oh, hey! Penny! Mark's in this house!"

I get up and head to the backyard. Andrew's voice is now coming from there. In the backyard, there's some lawn chairs, a patio table with an umbrella, as well as a large tree. The tree, however, has collapsed and broken the fence on the left side. The patio, which is on the right, is mostly alright, but it's getting overwhelmed by the overgrown grass. A lot of the grass now takes on a brownish, dead look as well. As I walk outside, Penny lands in the yard, causing a fair amount of wind. It even blows the umbrella over.

"Penny! How far is everyone else?" I ask.

"They're only a block or so away, but the area they're fighting through is rather congested with monsters. I can still clear a path to get you to them."

"Mark! I found it!" Andrew says from above. I look up in time to see him jump down from the roof and land with relative ease. He hands me the Lightning Gun, and I feel relieved to have it back with me again. Don't get me wrong, the sword's cool too. But if I had to pick one or the other, it'd be the gun. Speaking of which, since I don't really have a name for the sword, I should probably come up with one. I'll do that later. "Alright, Penny! I know what to do! You can protect us as we make it to our friends!"

"Way ahead of you," Penny says, and she takes off. She causes another blast of wind, so strong that it pushes the lawn chairs. She flies off to the left and narrowly avoids a Fusion Matter blast from below her. She takes notice of this and swoops down on whatever monster is there. Andrew and I run back through the house to the front door, making sure not to step in the Fusion Matter puddle that's spread out to half of the room. I check how much power my Lightning Gun has left, and it's around 60%. I was almost certain it was gonna be lower. I mean, even if I ran out, I have Andrew here to fill it up for me.

"Ready?" I ask, and Andrew gives me a knowing smirk. I put my finger near the trigger, grab the doorknob, and as soon as I open it, Andrew zooms out into battle. His first targets? A group of nearby Fusion Spawns. Every time he punches them, there's a flash of light and a pulse of energy blasts outward. Oh, and the Spawns get knocked back a lot as a result. Andrew then zooms to the right, which is the direction my friends are in. I start running in that direction while Andrew attacks any Fusion Monster in my way. I can barely focus on Andrew as he zips all over the place, blasting, shoving and pushing every monster in our path. He must have been trained really well.

"Shocktanglers incoming!" an operative says as he runs out of a space between two of the houses. He's then hit in the back by a Fusion Matter blast. Thankfully, the armor helped protect him to some extent, but he still looks to be in pain. I hurry over to help him up and get him to safety. When I turn around, more of the wire-monsters, which I am guessing are the Shocktanglers, come toward us from where the operative ran. Weirdly, some of them have a slightly different coloring. Some have the same look as the last one I encountered, but others have darker blue cables and blue-colored wires instead of copper-colored. Others still have a bluish-green color for their cables and their wires are as yellow as gold. Two of these Shocktanglers come toward us, while the rest go in other directions. Andrew runs at one of them just like he's been doing, but he's intercepted. The Shocktangler clings to him with its copper-colored wires and starts to coil them around him.

I fire at the Shocktangler holding on to Andrew, and score around two hits before the other starts to come after me. I blast through some of the wires holding Andrew as I try to out-maneuver the others. When the one coming after me gets too close and tries to attack me, I run to where Andrew is to try and free him. However, I'm hit in the side by another Fusion Matter blast, much like how that operative just was. I feel that burning sensation on my right side as I get knocked to the ground, and my Lightning Gun falls out of my hands. Not again! I call out to Andrew as one Shocktangler grabs onto my leg with its wire tendrils. I desperately grab onto a part of the sidewalk that split open as it starts to pull. I kick at the wires as I try to move forward to get to my gun, but it's pulling much more strongly than I can pull myself forward. I look to Andrew, and the Shocktangler is beginning to implant its large cables into the ground, and the ground directly under Andrew begins to turn green.

I'm then flipped over by the cables so that I'm facing upward. I can't hold on to the sidewalk anymore. The Shocktangler that grabbed onto me was one of the blue-wired ones. My mind starts racing as I think of what I could do to get out of this. I could use my Nano, but it's gonna take too long to get her out of my NanoCom, and this monster will surely intercept me. But if not that, then... Wait. I know. As the Shocktangler's other set of wires starts coming for me, I reach out and grab directly onto them. I pull myself up toward the Shocktangler, grab my sword and with one swift motion, slice all the wires holding me. Andrew, at the same time, decides to copy my idea to some extent, as he grabs the wires I broke on the Shocktangler holding him and pulls on them to get himself closer. The thing is, he pulls on them with such force that he not only uproots the monster from the ground, but he tears the wires out. He then blasts himself out of the Eruption's blast radius right as it goes off.

Andrew runs right for the Shocktangler that was just holding me, and ends up slamming it into more of them. I run to my Lightning Gun, and while the Shocktanglers are still stunned from Andrew's attack, I blast them both with lightning. I also use this opportunity to go to my NanoCom and hastily check my Buttercup nano. There's a bar above it that's slowly filling up, which must be showing how much energy it's got. Well, it seems to be around a third of the way full. While I would prefer more, I need the Nano right now, and I think I can still utilize her. It's worth a shot.

I attempt to summon my Nano, and it's a success. As soon as my Nano sees more Shocktanglers coming for us, she grins at the prospect of fighting even more monsters. Not even a second after, she zooms at one of them and shoves it into another. I fire at two other Shocktanglers as fast as I can, and every time I blast one, I instantly aim for the other. I'm trying to keep them both stunned up until I fire at them again. The Buttercup nano then makes my job easier by zooming to one that I'm dealing with and swinging it around. She slams the monster into the ground multiple times, and then throws it in front of me. Before it can get up, I blast directly at the giant tangle of wires that make up the middle of its head. It falls limp afterward and begins to break back down into Fusion Matter. I think the center part of its head may be its weak point. Time to see if that's true.

I start firing again at the other Shocktangler, this time aiming for the center of its head, right at the eyes. We have a little standoff where it blocks my shots with the wires, and then it tries to fire a blast of Fusion Matter from its claw. I'm able to dodge it and then score a hit on the Shocktangler by shooting the parts of the cables where the outside is broken off, exposing the inside. I psych out the monster by aiming at its face again, but then quickly aiming down and firing directly into the cable. This momentarily paralyzes it, giving me ample time to fire at its head again. And just like that, another Shocktangler goes down. But there's more where that came from.

"Andrew, we gotta go!" I yell as I run to the left. Andrew follows behind and passes me within moments. I continue running forward while Andrew and other operatives provide cover fire against the Shocktanglers behind us. Thankfully, those monsters all get obliterated by fire soon after. I look up and see Penny turning around to make another pass. We run forward, blasting as many monsters as possible, but we don't bother slowing down unless it's to help people. Once Andrew wrecks another squad of Fusion Spawns, a whole bunch of Eruptions start happening all around us. One of the houses' roofs is completely blown through by one of the blasts, sending splinters of wood and tiles into the sky.

As I head to the left and away from the street, I hear someone call my name, and then Andrew's. Jade. I look back to the right and I see her there, in her full-on defensive form. Even if it's no longer used as much as it was back when I created her, I'm still glad she can use it for this battle today and all the ones she may have encountered in the time I was gone. It's not long until I spot my other friends. Anais, Gumball, Evan, Lucas, then the rest... They've all managed to stick together. I run down the sidewalk to try and get to them, but a gigantic thing bursts through the house on my right, reducing its front to ruins. I don't even know what it is, but I hurry to the closest thing I can hide behind just to be safe. In this case, it's a hovercar on the street, recently abandoned by its users. They didn't even waste time to close their doors when they got out and ran.

A loud, mechanical roar comes from behind a house on my right, not long before a giant mechanical claw comes over the roof and starts digging through it. Then, through the windows, I think I can see everything inside breaking apart. As we start moving again, whatever the thing is starts coming through the front of the house. The front completely collapses, and the mechanical claw starts to attack everything in the vicinity. Once the dust settles, I realize what this thing is. It's that excavator monster. The excavator's arm has been modified into something akin to those claws in arcade games, which means it can grab and crush things with ease. The treads are gone, having been replaced with mechanical legs. That's just a few of the major changes.

Everyone nearby starts to focus their firepower on this excavator monster as it lets out a gigantic roar. It disorients everyone in the process and even sends another car on the other side of the street slide down toward the car I'm hiding behind. This car moves a little too.

"Mark! Hurry!" Evan yells from my left. I look that way and see him, urging me to come over. I run down the sidewalk as fast as I can, using the cars as shields. A Spawn tries to jump at me, but I blast it in midair and send it back. Andrew finishes it off. Once I meet back up with my friends, Andrew zooms past us and energy punches several Spawns in a row. He then goes back to us.

"Alright, we've got the whole group back together!" Andrew says, excited. "So are we gonna fight these monsters together now?"

"That would be cool, but right now, we need to get Mark back to the Treehouse, or at least somewhere here that's safer," Evan says. He then looks to me. "We can't have you die early."

"But these people need all the help we can get to get this under-" I start saying, but the excavator monster interrupts me with a loud roar as it makes its way into the street. When Evan makes sure nobody's super close to the monster, he fires another teddy bear at it. It's light blue. It hits the monster and its front and claw immediately start to get frozen. Soon, it's unable to continue moving. All the while, operatives continue to fire on it until it eventually breaks into several pieces. The back of the monster runs around in a panic before falling over too. Then we hear someone yelling, **"PROTECT THE TIME MACHINE STUFF!"** I glance over and see several people running as fast as they can toward the Treehouse. The people are holding things of various size, shape and material. That someone then yells out to Buttercup, who comes down within seconds. She takes the materials out of their hands and flies back up to the Treehouse. And after breathing more fire on another group of Fusion Monsters, Penny lands down where we are and reverts back to her normal form.

"Penny!" Gumball says as he goes over to Penny. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Penny says. "Just... I used up a lot of my energy there."

"Even so, Penny, you were a huge help," I say. "A lot of these operatives here probably have been toast without- Wait, no. Um... You helped them a lot." I look to Andrew, who's rather tired. "You OK, Andrew?"

"Yeah... I'm just a bit drained," Andrew says. "I haven't fought to that extent in a while."

Buttercup then comes back to fight off a large group of Shocktanglers that are trying to sneak away with some stuff. I think those are more of the materials. I even see them carrying 2x4s and tech made out of them. I decide to help out by firing at the monsters trying to get away. This prompts some of the Shocktanglers to give their materials to the others, and then go for us. But our whole group of friends fires on those monsters soon after. Within seconds of taking razors, lightning, heat beams and teddy bears that wreck them in several ways at once, they're unable to take any more hits. While Buttercup destroys the majority of those, Andrew says, "Screw it," and runs toward them.

Andrew zooms at one of the Shocktanglers, slides under it and grabs its wires. Then, he starts running around it really fast for a few seconds, and when he stops, we see what he did. He freakin' wrapped the Shocktangler in its own wires. He even tied knots with them. Heh, that's an interesting way to deal with them. Andrew then jumps up and pushes the Shocktangler into the air. Buttercup then flies up to it and punches it with enough force to split it into several pieces that fall to the ground.

"Nice work," I hear Buttercup say, and Andrew smiles. He then zooms back to us, taking out more monsters along the way. I've noticed now that the way the monsters are behaving is different. They're becoming more aggressive now, trying to attack as many operatives as possible. More really loud noises take place behind us, and when I turn around, the house behind us is starting to fall apart. We get away from there as fast as possible, and another excavator monster makes its way out of the house's wreckage. It looks directly at us and begins to charge. Thankfully, Buttercup shows up to show this monster who's boss. But I know more of them are coming. In fact, I look down the street, and I see more of those Junkasaurus Wreckses coming closer. OK, that can't be the right plural. I'll ask later.

"Buttercup!" Evan yells. "We need to get Mark back to the Treehouse ASAP!"

"You got it!" Buttercup says as she zooms over to me.

"Wait! Ev-" I begin to say, but before I can finish my sentence, Buttercup flies me away from my friends.


	13. Sneakin' Around

_**Mark - January 15, 2019 - 11:15 AM**_

For a second, everything's a blur, and all I can hear is a loud whooshing noise. When the world becomes more solid, I'm on one of the outer balconies of the Treehouse. The moment Buttercup zooms back down to the battle, I start going to my NanoCom's contact list. My friends are still out there, among the unfolding chaos. While I'm certain they can handle it, the part of my brain that tries to make me worry about everything keeps on eating at the rest. Something could go horribly wrong that results in everybody getting hurt... or worse. I watch the battle down below, trying to see if I can spot anyone I know. Granted, I think I'm 40 stories up or something, so that's not exactly gonna be possible. I do, however, see the energy trails and blasts that Andrew's leaving behind. I can distinguish his from Buttercup's because his are less uniform and more lightning-based. Well, that and his isn't flying through the air like Buttercup's.

As the battle continues, Andrew gets closer and closer to the Treehouse. I'm fairly sure my friends are with him, but just to make sure, I go to the map on my NanoCom and scroll to where the yellow arrows are. As I expected, their icons are all near Andrew's, who I can still see is moving around them at quick speed. All of a sudden, however, there's a big explosion near where their group should be on the map. And now there's no energy trail anywhere. Oh, no... I look back to the map, and see that the icons are still all there, but Andrew's not moving as fast anymore, but at normal speed.

It feels like an eternity as I watch the icons move down the street toward the Treehouse. Whenever there's a bit of lag and an icon or more freezes for a second, I start to worry until it starts moving again. As they reach only a block from where the Treehouse is, something must happen, because a few of the icons stop moving for a second, and then continue to move again. Two of them, though, move more slowly, and some of the others move over to help them. I look back down to the battle to see if I can tell what happened, but I'm so far away that anything I can see of them is just a speck in a swirl of craziness. I would run to our room to see if my binoculars are still around, but it'll take a while to get to the room, find them and come back to here, at which point they may already be back.

The conflict within me starts to build. If something happened, I should be down there helping them, but I know that they want me to stay up here, out of the line of fire. Even so, if they happen to be in trouble, I should help them. I look at the holo-map to see where my friends are. They aren't on the street anymore, but rather in another alley. They start heading a certain way, and then I hear another explosion. I glance at that location on the map should be, and I see a large cloud of smoke forming from where they came from inside the alley. The icons on the map run down the alley, then pause and start backing up. At this point, my worry for my friends overrides my common sense, and I start running down the halls to get to my friends.

I run to the first transportation tube I can find, and head all the way back down to Numbuh One's house again. When I exit, I check my NanoCom again, and find that they're closer now to the Treehouse than ever before. Matter of fact, they're on the corner of the street where his house is. OK, they're just about to make it out of the battle, which means I just ran all the way down here for no reason. Well, at least I'm gonna be able to reunite with them sooner.

I look to the corner they should be at, and after a few more tense seconds, I see the first person to arrive. Anais. She seemingly just flies up, as if she was launched. Maybe the KND installed some **C.A.T.U.H.P.L.U.N.K.s** there to make it easier to get up here. Well, I'm grateful for whoever thought that idea up. Lucas comes up next, then Amanda, then Evan, then Anais, then Gumball and Penny. Andrew? From what Andrew told me before, he shouldn't need one to get up here. He comes up even quicker than my other friends, with Jade following close behind. Once I know everyone's here, and it looks like they're relatively OK, I literally feel the worries leaving me.

"Hey!" I call out to my friends. Andrew sees me, and runs over to me so quickly that I barely even perceive him running at me. All I sense in the moment is him being with my friends, a quick flash, and a millisecond later, he's here.

"Mark! You missed the coolest thing!" Andrew says, in his usual super fast, excited way. "OK, so, after you left, and we were trying to get back, I saw some Spawns trying to come at us from the side. But before anyone else noticed them, I grabbed two of them by the pointy things on the back of 'em and swing them around into other monsters!"

"Wait, really?" I ask.

"Yeah," Evan says. "He swung one of 'em so hard at one monster that it burst into pieces!"

"Oh, yeah! The Pesky Pony!" Andrew says, still sparking with excitement. "Another one showed up right after that, and right when it was rearing, I zoomed up to it and hit it from below, and it went so freakin' far!"

"Pesky Pony?" I ask.

"It's another kind of monster. You'll know what I mean if you see it."

"OK, well… It's a good thing you're OK. You guys are all OK, right?"

"Don't worry, Mark! I had it all under control."

"Really?" Anais says sarcastically. "You sure seemed like you had that Petroleum Punk under control."

"It was gonna blow up no matter what!" Andrew says. "I just blasted it so that it'd blow up before it could get to us."

"That's what that huge explosion was?" I ask.

"Yep. But anyway, Mark, I had it _mostly_ under control."

"Anyway, any updates on what's going on down there, Evan?"

"Well, the monsters started changing their battle tactics as we were getting out of there," Evan says. "They pushed us forward, and then they started trying to push everyone back from their line of defense. Granted, Buttercup keeps on wrecking it, but more of them keep coming back. I'm guessing that they're trying to keep us from getting whatever other materials could still be there."

"Is there anything else you know?" I ask.

"Not much, really. We could head back up and find someone who could."

And we do just that. We move up through the Treehouse, going through various tubes, hallways and platforms until we reach the Time Machine Construction Room. Andrew had zoomed on up as we started leaving to let everyone know we were on our way before coming back to us, and so Mandark and Computress are both waiting for us here. Numbuhs Five and Two must still be somewhere in the battle or coming back from it. Nearby operatives are putting the materials together and with the help of some Mandroids, using holographic schematics to figure out how to assemble them in a way that looks like how it should work. But because they don't have all the pieces, it can't properly be put together in a good amount of areas.

"Hey, guys! Mark's here now!" Andrew says, grabbing everybody's attention.

"Mark! Good, you're arrived," Computress says. "We were beginning to get concerned."

"Don't worry, I'm OK," I say. "But we do want to figure out what's exactly going on, like what progress you've made in getting the materials back."

"Yeah, about that…" Mandark says. "Unfortunately, what we have is not enough to make a proper time machine. Many of the other key components for the time machine have yet to be retrieved, some of which are directly important to making sure the Synchronization Engine can function, or at least make the time travel safer for you."

"Well, how much of the materials did we get?"

 _"I've calculated the schematics and analyzed what we've got so far,"_ Robot Jones says. _"We have approximately 38% of the necessary materials required for a complete time machine."_

38%... That means that three fifths of the materials are still out there, most likely in the hands of the Fusions. They probably targeted that SCAMPER specifically to get them, though I don't know how they knew they were in there. They must have been attacking everything, which is why the other bases I heard about also got attacked. My mind begins to go crazy with what the Fusions could do with the materials. They could destroy them, use them to create monsters, or maybe… No, they don't have enough of the materials to do that. I don't think they do, at least. Well, whatever it is they do, let's hope we can stop them prior to that.

"Well, I'm sure there's no need to panic yet," Amanda says. "We could just, uh… Oh! I know what we can do! If all else fails, we could build 2x4 versions of those parts and use those instead for the time machine!"

"That could actually work," Evan says. "If we got the right things, we could very well do it. We've created all sorts of stuff that was thought impossible to make with 2x4s. Heck, with enough time, we could probably recreate the time machine in the 2x4 style. And we could call it… The **T.I.M.E.M.A.C.H.I.N.E.** "

"What would the acronym be for it, then?" Andrew asks. "Would it be-"

"Look, that doesn't really matter right now," I say. "What matters is that we do what we need to do to get me back to the past."

"Wait, so what are we gonna do?" Gumball asks. "Are we building the time machine from scratch or are we getting those original parts for it back?"

"I mean, we should try to get them back first," Lucas says. "After all, they'd be the most compatible with what we already have. But we don't know at all where the parts could be."

"Yes, we do," Numbuh Five says from the entrance. I turn around and see her there with Numbuh Two and a bunch of other KND operatives. They're still wearing their KND defense armor, although it's definitely taken a hit.

"Greetings, Numbuh Five and Numbuh Two," Computress says. "You've retrieved information on the location of the materials?"

"We've at least pinpointed where they could be," Numbuh Two says. "We've recently detected a massive spike in Fusion activity in the infected training area. It's likely the Fusion Monsters are taking or have taken the other materials there."

"Wait, why on Earth would they go in there?" Mandark asks. "From what we've analyzed, that place is entirely contained! Of course, that's great news for us, but surely they'd also understand that."

"Maybe they plan to do something with the materials in there," Anais says. "Although I'm not sure what that would be, but still, it probably won't be good for any of us."

"What's in there that we'll need to deal with?" I ask.

"Well, as far as the Training Area's concerned, there's been very frequent reports of a Fusion Numbuh Two," Numbuh Five says. "And he probably has a lot of his weird Shocktanglers in there."

"'His' Shocktanglers? You mean that they're his own minions or something?"

"Pretty much," says one of the other operatives in Numbuh Five's group. Hold on a second. This operative looks familiar. When I see she also has a **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** , I realize why. I saw this operative before, when we met up with Numbuh Five and her squad in the electronics store near Tech Square. It was dark in there before, and given the brief span of time in which I saw her, I didn't make her out clearly. She's got brown hair, pale skin and green eyes, and I can see the number "108" on her armor and helmet. So obviously, she's Numbuh 108.

"Alright, well, we need to come up with a plan ASAP," Numbuh Two says. "If Fusion Numbuh Two's got those materials, who knows what he's gonna do with 'em."

"Yeah, if he's even half as smart as you, things could get really bad really fast," Amanda says.

"That's the thing: From what Numbuh 108 has reported, it seems he is more than half. And to make things even worse, he absolutely hates puns! I mean, come on! How can he not like puns?"

"It's _pun_ believable, right?" Numbuh 108 says.

"Yeah!"

"Wait… How would you know he doesn't like puns?" I ask in confusion.

"One time when I encountered him, I made a pun just to see how he'd react to it, since... you know," Numbuh 108 says as she starts chuckling. "And let me tell you: He got so freakin' mad-"

 **"The plan,"** Numbuh Five simply says, a little annoyed.

"Oh, right," Numbuh Two says. "We're going to attack the Training Area and get the parts for the time machine back! Who's in?"

"I wanna help!" Gumball says. Immediately following this, all my other friends and every other operative in the room chime in about how they want to also aid in the battle too. But then when it's my turn to ask, Numbuh Five almost instantly shoots it down.

"Mark, I understand completely, but we can't risk something happening to you," Numbuh Five says.

"I'm not saying I want to go into full-on battle," I say. "Every instance where I have been in a big battle has been because of forces out of my control. The whole Infected Zone fiasco? Fusion Buttercup attacked the SCAMPER. The battle that just happened? I was knocked off my hoverboard and the correction course sent me down there. And every time, I was able to make it through, especially with the help of my friends. Heck, I think I took on more monsters last time alone than I did in all cases during the Tech Square fight."

"And he's got me and all his friends to help him!" Andrew says.

"Look, if you don't want us to, we don't have to go right to the front lines. We could help in some other way, even if it was from the sidelines like we were doing at first last time. And hey, if something goes down, Andrew's right. I've got my friends with me. I don't have to do this alone. Besides… I have to do this for everyone we've lost…"

Numbuh Five and Numbuh Two look at each other, rather unsure. They whisper to each other for a minute or so, and then they turn back to us.

"Fine, but unless absolutely necessary, we're not gonna let you go into the line of fire."

"Sure. My original role on my team suited that anyway."

* * *

 _ **One hour later...**_

Since time was of the essence, we tried to construct a workable plan as quickly as we could, but not have it be sloppy and easy to screw up at the same time. Thankfully, we had Anais with us to help out. And now I understand what my friends meant when they said that she was really good at strategizing things. She really helped to iron out how this plan is gonna go.

Our plan's gonna work like this: Each of the Infected Zones only have one entrance or exit for humans: **The Warp Gate.** We'll be entering the place through there as several different units, each with a certain purpose. The first group will be a diversion that will seemingly be trying to scope out the place, and will lure the Fusion Monsters away from where we are. Then, a second group will enter that will attack the Fusion Monsters. Whatever group that I'm in will show up at the same time as the first one, but it will split off from it and sneak around the monsters as they approach. If all goes well, we'll be able to sneak past the monsters, find the materials and get out without being spotted. Once we get the materials out, we'll leave it to the pros to finish off the rest of the Fusions. I'll probably sneak in a few shots, though, because I'm still keeping up on my promise to shoot every Fusion I can without compromising something. No matter what, though, the materials are the priority.

Regardless, we're now in the preparation phase and about to initiate the attack. Most of my friends and I have gone to another Preparation Bay to get all the weapons and stuff that we'll need for this mission. Andrew and Anais aren't with us right now because Anais is finishing up the fixing of Andrew's suit, which she had done a good amount of last night.

This time, because I'll be actually taking part in the fight, I'm trying to find some more stuff to aid me that's specialized in espionage. But so far, I haven't found anything yet that would actually be useful. As I'm looking around for something, I notice a couple of operatives go over to this one open box and take these weird eggs out of them. My curiosity takes over as I head to the box and take a look inside. Within one part of this box is, at the least, a couple dozen of these eggs. These eggs come in a variety of bright colors, such as orange, blue, yellow or green. They look like those toy plastic eggs that are everywhere during Easter egg hunts. Maybe there's something inside them?

I take one of the blue eggs out and look at it. There's this small sticker on one side, going over the two halves of the eggs. The icon on the sticker resembles a stick figure running. Hmm… I have no idea what could possibly be in here. Only one way to find out, I guess. I open the egg to find... nothing. Yet at the same time, I feel strange. I don't know exactly what happened, but maybe opening that egg did something to me. Well, whatever it is, I haven't noticed anything yet. I guess I'll continue on getting stuff.

"Yo, Mark! Take a look at this!" Evan calls out from the other side of the room. I turn, and see him, Lucas and Amanda at another large crate. Evan's holding something big, but from this angle, I can't tell what it is. There's a clear, straight path to them from where I am, and so I hurry over. But on my first step, something is immediately off. I move way faster than I expect to, so much so that I'm boosted halfway across the room in just a few seconds! What on Earth?! WHY AM I MOVING FAST? I'm able to slow myself down, but I worry that I'm gonna trip in the process. And yet, I slow down just as normally as I would when moving at normal speed.

"Guys? What is happening?" I ask, a bit concerned. "Why am I moving faster?"

"What do you mean?" asks Amanda, who comes up to me after reloading her **S.H.A.V.E.R.A.M.A.**

"I-I don't know. I just opened one of those eggs and then I started moving faster when I was coming over to you."

"Yeah, that's basically what happened when we all first tried them as well," Lucas says.

"But, what exactly are they?" I ask.

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?" Amanda says.

I shrug. "Whatever gets me the most necessary info without over-complicating things."

"Alright, so… Those eggs are called **E.G.G.** s, which stands for **E** veryone **G** ets **G** oods. When you open 'em, they will disperse the equivalent of a 'power-up' to whoever opened 'em. Depending on what that sticker says, they could run faster, jump higher... Heck, they could even become protected from Fusion Matter. These effects will only last for a while, though."

...I don't even know the proper response. We literally have "power-ups" to aid us in fights. Before I know it, questions start to pour from my mouth:

"OK, how the heck is that possible? Where'd the KND get these? Wh… Actually, those are my only major questions, to be honest."

"Well, these eggs supposedly came from an Imaginary Friend that came to one of our outposts. You can guess the rest."

I can, actually. The whole "Imaginary Friend is the point of origin" thing explains so much. If there's anything I know about Imaginary Energy and the Imaginary Friends that come from it, it's that when it's in play, logic might as well not even be taken into consideration. I mean, how else could something like Jade, or any other Imaginary Friend, exist? Well, I know what I'm gonna do after I see what Evan wants me to see: get a few more of those eggs.

"How long will these effects last?"

"Don't worry, it's not that long. At the least, we've seen it last five or so minutes, but it tends to vary a lot depending on how much you need it."

"Oh, OK, cool. Anyway, what did you want me to see, Evan?"

Evan wanted me to take a look at this cool version of the Gatling Gum he found. Yes, we have a literal gumball-firing machine gun. And I know Evan loves those things. If he can't use his specialized **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** on a mission, he'll use one of those instead. Such is the case with this mission.

"Yeah, the Training Area's too close-quarters for explosive teddy bears," Evan says. "But Your Nano should be really useful in there given what Andrew told us it did in that last battle."

"Oh, yeah! Mark! There's some things we have that can help your Nano!" Amanda says.

"Really? What are they?"

"Hold on, I'll just transfer 'em to you." She activates her NanoCom, and goes to this section called **"INVENTORY"**. Upon pressing this button, she's greeted to a large grid of squares. Most of these squares are empty, save for a few things. She then presses on one of the squares with something in it, and it becomes a little bigger for her while the rest of the squares recede and fade away. The object in question is a gumball. Automatically, I know things will get confusing, given one of my friends is named after that. Regardless, the gumball in the item square is red, and it even has red flame effects for some reason. I just hope the gumball isn't actually on fire.

Amanda presses one of the holo-buttons beneath the larger item square. While I'm not completely literate in reverse text, I think it says **"TRANSFER ITEM"**. I walk over behind her so that I can more clearly see what she's actually doing. Upon pressing the previous button, a list pops up that she scrolls through until she reaches my name. That's when my own NanoCom gives off another notification. It's not a _BEEP_ this time, though. It's just a _blip_ , and no more blips follow after it.

 _"You have received an item transfer request from Amanda:_

 ** _8 BLASTONS GUMBALLS_**

 _Do you accept this transfer?"_

I press the **"ACCEPT"** button, and the transfer begins. Well, actually, I barely see it begin because within moments, I'm greeted with a confirmation message. Amanda's inventory also goes back to what it was before, and I end up seeing a few other things in the otherwise empty grid. For example, there's blue and yellow versions of the same gumballs I received just now.

I'm starting to notice a pattern here. First, it was the monsters that had either red, blue or yellow color variations to them, and now we have red, blue and yellow gumballs. I would ask the reason behind this, but I'd rather not overload myself with any more information than what I've already learned. That, and since we're about to enter a battle, I don't want to clutter my mind too much beforehand.

"We should probably transfer our gumballs to you as well," Lucas says. "Maybe our Nano Potions, too, just in case."

"What? N-No, you don't really need to," I say.

"Well, they're pretty much useless in our hands, as we don't have any Nanos to use them on."

After accepting several more item transfers, I now have around 30 of these Blastons gumballs, and around 200 of these weird "Nano Potions", whatever those are. Supposedly, they'll be able to heal my Buttercup nano faster or something. And as for the Blastons Gumballs, if I give one to my Nano, it'll make her more powerful for a short time. And if what she did without one is of any indication, I should probably give her one right before we go into battle.

Once the effects of that other **E.G.G.** go away, I also go back to that box to get more of them. I grab another one of those "Speed Boost" eggs, but I also grab eggs with different icons on their stickers. There's a lot of different icons, actually. The ones I see alone include a spring, a Spawn, a lock, a beaker, someone in a ninja mask, and a few others. I grab one version of each, just to be safe, which gives me around six **E.G.G.** s.

OK, no more waiting… It's time to do this. After we leave the Preparation Bay, we head back to our room to meet up with Andrew and Anais, who should be close to being done with fixing up Andrew's suit by now. As we get close, Gumball calls Anais to let her know we're coming. When we arrive, Andrew immediately zooms over to open the door.

"Hey, Mark! Check out how much nicer my suit looks now!" Andrew says, jumping and holding it up in front of him. After I tell him to stop jumping so I can get a closer look, I'm able to see Anais's handiwork. Immediately, I'm impressed. The big gashes on the front of the suit are almost entirely gone, and the only hints that they were any there to begin with are the fact that the usual turquoise lines aren't in the places where I think they'd be. Even so, I can tell Andrew doesn't mind that in the slightest. While the big tears on the right arm have yet to be fixed, as well as , this is a really good start.

"Wow! That looks awesome! You did a really good job, Anais! You'll fix the rest of it later, right?"

"Of course. The right arm's gonna take a while longer. He really did get it messed up when..."

"When what?"

"...It doesn't really matter. What matters that is that Andrew's suit is much more usable now than before."

"You know, Mark, when you go back, you'll probably see the suit when it's brand new and stuff," Evan says.

Mark shrugs. "Probably. I mean, it depends on how far I'm going back. We don't know entirely for sure. Heck, I could go far back enough that I return before you even get powers, and I could give ideas for the suit to Dexter ahead of time."

" **YES!** You need to request, like, a laser sword that can come from the suit so that I can also slice the Fusions up like your Lightning Sword!"

"Ooooh, I know!" Gumball says. "What about that one thing where you can build up energy that you get from hits and stuff, and then you can just unleash it?"

"While we're on this topic, it could also have some sort of thing where it's compressed in a small area and then forms around you whenever you want it to," Evan says.

"Well, I was thinking more alongside the lines of protection, but sure, we can do all those things, too," Mark says.

Once that bit of banter is over, we start going back down to the ground floor of the Treehouse. We leave the house and head over to the southwest zipline, since the Training Area is in that direction. As we go down this much longer zipline, I start to see the force fields surrounding the Training Area more clearly. They're blue-tinted, like everything made from Dexlabs. The force field appears to have small bands of light that go up from the bottom to the top of the force field and then go away. A much bigger one does the same thing every now and then. There's also two horizontal bands of yellow and black lines that resemble caution tape on the force field as well. They don't go up, though; They stay where they are. I think there's yellow text between the bands, but I can't make it out clearly yet.

We reach the bottom of the zipline, which is only two blocks away from the Training Area. There are a little less houses here, and most of them are essentially abandoned. The ones that aren't are majorly fortified. Well, as fortified as they can be in this scenario. There are parts of this area of town where the infection is very visible, too, whether there be patches of infected ground, small puddles of Fusion Matter, or areas where the ground has fallen or risen. For example, there's a house that's been tilted to the left because of the ground on its left side rising up. Then there's another that's been split in half. I could go on and on.

"Heh… Welcome to the apocalypse, Mark," Evan says dramatically, as if he was a movie announcer or something.

"I still think mine's better," Gumball says. "Let me show how it's done:

Welcome, Mark… ** _to the APOCALYPSE!"_**

"OK, yeah, you got me that time. For now."

Penny chuckles while shaking her head. "You guys…"

As we approach the Training Area, I see more and more operatives. Soon, at about a block away, there's lots of them. They must all be preparing as well. I also notice Buttercup in the sky, keeping watch on everything going on within. I'm guessing nothing major has gone down in there yet, as she's not alerting us of anything. If she has to, we'll definitely know. Actually, I'm not even sure if the attack has started yet. I don't think so, as I don't see anyone going in there yet.

My NanoCom goes off, once again with a blip. I check and see that it's a text message from Numbuh 108:

 _"Numbuh 5 gave me your contact info to let you know of where to go. She's currently getting abbylion other things ready, at the moment (she would so kill me if she caught me saying that, but I couldn't resist ;D)"_

Oh, dear. Looks like Numbuh 108 has fallen to the puns. Still, I gotta give credit where it's due. I wouldn't have thought that one up on the fly, that's for sure. She sends another message:

 _"Anyway, head to my coordinates for the signal I'm about to send out. We'll be there."_

As expected, I get a notification to check my map, and I find a waypoint that's directly over a house that's down the street. The house is unmistakable, as it has a large satellite dish on top, and a lot more barricades than normal. This must be a KND outpost or something to check on the Training Area. We head up to the house and knock on the door, and Numbuh 108 opens it for us.

"Mark! OK, good! I'll call Numbuh Five now," Numbuh 108 says, before doing exactly that. Numbuh Five then tells me through the NanoCom to stay with the group until further orders.

"Got it," I say, as Numbuh 108 closes the call.

"Come on, Mark! The stuff you'll need is in here."

OK, here we go. I'm assuming that this is when our friend groups split up, as aside from Jade, none of my other friends were put in the infiltration group. Evan, Andrew, and Amanda were all put in the attacking group, and while I'd normally be there, they'll be drawing all the fire away from us. Lucas was put in the diversion group, which similarly will be drawing fire away from my own group. As for Gumball, Anais and Penny, they're in different, less active roles. Despite not being a stealth operative, Jade's in my group because of her defensive capabilities. If things go south, she can form a protective crystal layer around me so that I can't get hurt by anything.

"Don't worry, Mark," Andrew says. "I'll make sure we all get out of here OK, without me exploding stuff this time."

"I'll make sure of it, too," Amanda says.

"Me, too," Lucas says. Soon, everyone else says something similar.

"Well… I guess I'll see you at the end of all this, then," I say. And then we separate, with Jade and I going into the house while my friends go elsewhere. For better or worse, we each have our part to play in this mission, even if it must be in different places.

Jade and I go into the living room, where a few other operatives have gathered. None of them are really talking to each other like they're friends, so I'm guessing Numbuh Five scrounged up all the best stealth operatives from different teams for this group. They've all got similar-looking stealth equipment, whether it be scouters, infrared goggles or something else. There's a large bag on the coffee table in the middle of the room that's packed with **E.G.G.** s. At least, I assume it was at that point, because all the other operatives have a few **E.G.G.** s with them. Very soon after I enter, the operatives pause everything that they're doing. They just stare at me in disbelief and interest, a few of them whispering to each other. Now, because of the fact that this has happened several times since the initial incident in the TV room, I've become more used to it. It's still weird, though.

"Yes, Mark will be with us on this mission," Numbuh 108 says. "No further need to gawk at him."

"What else are we supposed to do?" a younger operative says. "He's a hero!"

"Well, I-I don't know for sure about that," I say.

"What are you talking about? You took down Fusion Buttercup! That's amazing!"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Look, you can gush over what Mark did all you want later," Numbuh 108 says. "Right now, we gotta prepare to do our part of the mission, which could happen at any second." And just like that, the operatives nod and go back to what they were doing before.

"Anyway, Mark, we've made some additions to the plan," Numbuh 108 says. "It's still mostly the same, but we'll be using certain **E.G.G.** s as an extra safety measure."

"Which **E.G.G.** s?" I ask.

"These ones." She lifts one out of her bag and shows the sticker on it to me. It's one with a ninja mask on it. "We call these 'Sneak **E.G.G.** s'. By using one of these, it'll become almost impossible for the Fusion Monsters to see us while we're in there."

"What, it makes us invisible or something?"

"To them, at least. We'll still be able to see each other. Makes things way easier, right?"

"Yeah…" I say. "How many of 'em will we need?"

"Well, I would suggest that you take as much as you can manage. Doesn't hurt to have too much."

I go to the bag and grab a whole armful of **E.G.G.** s. I think I get at least five of 'em, which is a lot when adding up all the other **E.G.G.** s I've stored up. Speaking of which, I should find a better way to store these later. If I keep getting more and more eggs at this rate, I won't be able to hold all of them in all these pockets on my armor and the hoodie I have beneath it. After that, I start chatting with some of the other operatives about the mission, and they're all excited at first to talk to me. Whenever things start to get a little too out of hand, though, Numbuh 108 helps to make sure everyone's in check.

We also look back over the blueprints for the Training Area. Because of the way the place is set up, we'll just be going around the side the whole way from the Warp Gate until we reach the other end, where the most Fusion activity has been detected. After gathering a little more data from Buttercup, who's constantly providing an aerial view of the Training Area and updating us on anything going on outside, she saw a lot of Fusion Monsters around one of the storage areas at the other end. The materials are likely in there as well. Once we see where the storage area is located, we formulate our plan accordingly so that we don't have to go through too much of the battle in order to make it to the materials.

A few more minutes later, Numbuh 108 gets a call from Numbuh Five. The other teams are ready, and now it's time for us to get into position. "Let's go, everyone!" Numbuh 108 says as she walks back to the front door, all the other operatives following her. We move as one collective unit, all knowing what we need to do. Soon, we reach the corner, just across the street from the Infected Zone. I also see what that yellow text from before is: Exactly what you'd expect. **"DANGER: INFECTED ZONE"**... Well, only those who went inside should be in actual danger, which includes all of us.

The Warp Gate is located on the sidewalk, which obviously would cause some traffic difficulties under normal circumstances. But of course, there doesn't seem to be much, if any, traffic. I don't think I've even seen a single car actually driving down a road yet. Either 99.9999% of the world really is dead, and the KND is only one of the few things that remain, or nobody dares to leave their house for fear of being attacked. I don't blame them, to be honest. But it looks like we might not be actually the only organization left after all. There's a few of those SACT armored trunks near the Warp Gate. There are also a few agents by the trucks, as well. They must be here to keep an eye on what goes on near the Warp Gate.

There are many operatives in this particular area, too. They must all be part of the diversion groups. And sure enough, Andrew, Evan, Amanda and Lucas are all by the Warp Gate, readying for battle. However, unlike the other groups, ours doesn't go near the Warp Gate. We stay back in the front yard of one of the houses across the street from it. On the other side of the shields, I can see the Warp Gate inside the Training Area's entrance. It doesn't seem like the Fusion Monsters are aware of what we're doing yet, because if they were, they'd be trying to prevent us from crossing through.

I check my Lightning Gun's energy level again. It's 50%, a lot lower than I thought it would be. I think the energy sealant may have been damaged back in Tech Square, when the shockwave from Buttercup broke all the glass in the nearby vicinity. Granted, the small bit of glass that allows me to peep into the Lightning Gun's energy chamber didn't shatter, but some energy could be seeping through the cracks. I quickly head over to Andrew so that he can refuel my Lightning Gun. Now, I won't have to worry about it running out when I don't want it to.

I also go to own NanoCom's inventory and try to figure out how to use these Red Gumballs. I click on the square with the gumball in it much like Amanda did, and am presented with a couple options. Aside from the **"TRANSFER ITEM"** option, there is a hologram of my Buttercup nano that wasn't there before, with the option: **"GIVE TO NANO"**. I press that button, and that gumball appears by my Nano's hologram. A funny little animation takes place where my Nano takes the gumball and eats it, and then it glows with red fire. It must be powered up now. I can't wait to see it in action.

"Everyone get ready," Numbuh 108 says. The other squad members begin to get one of their Sneak **E.G.G.** s, but they don't open them. At the same time, Numbuh 108 informs Numbuh Five that we're in position, and that as soon as the first diversion goes in, we'll go in. When the group arrives, one of the SACT agents goes up to a control panel near the Warp Gate, presses a few buttons, and begins to activate the rift. It opens much like last time, and starts to create another portal. At the same time, the Warp Gate on the other side of the shields moves in the exact same way as the one on this side. And at the same instant, the portal forms. With little hesitation, the first group runs through, weapons at the ready.

"Now!" Numbuh 108 says as soon as the last few members of the first group are about to go in. Immediately, everyone opens their **E.G.G.** s and they run toward the Warp Gate. I run alongside them, opening mine so quickly that the shell halves literally fly right out of my hands. Jade also opens up her **E.G.G.** by clawing it open. As the last guy in the diversion group goes through the Warp Gate, we follow him inside.

"Alright, everyone, get another egg ready just in case," Numbuh 108 says as we follow the squad through the entrance and into the main part of the Training Area. This part of the place is very open, and there are passages on the left sides that extend off to other parts. Right now, it should be just a straight shot to the materials, because the current most Fusion activity's been reported near the infected **M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.T.O.H.** on the other side of this open space. Well, without all the Fusion Matter, it'd be an open space, because this place is abundant with it. Whether it be on the fences, the ground or somewhere else, it's always somewhere. Some parts of the fence have been torn apart, or are just gone completely to make room for pools of Fusion Matter. In fact, that's the exact first roadblock we come across.

The ground itself has seemingly caved in, making room for a much larger pool of Fusion Matter that goes from end to end of this pathway. The remains of a bridge are on each side, but there's no way to cross here. Even with a running start, that seems unlikely. And although there are a bunch of things floating around above the Fusion Matter, including random 2x4s, metal beams, tires, or even parts of the fence itself, they're too far away to reach.

Of course, we don't need those things to cross in the first place because we have Jade with us. She can just create a crystal bridge, and that's exactly what she starts doing. She plants her claws into the dirt, and a large crystal extends outward to the other side until it starts piercing the ground on the other side.

"OK, that is awesome!" one of the other operatives says.

"Maybe we shouldn't be so loud right now," I say, gesturing for everyone to be quieter. "They might still hear us."

"The **E.G.G.s** will take care of that, too," Numbuh 108 says. "Trust me, I've used a lot of these things."

We begin walking down the giant crystal to the other side of the pit, constantly ensuring that I don't lose my balance. Once we make it to the other side, Numbuh 108 asks what we're gonna do about the giant crystal that's now going across the pit. That's definitely not normal, and it could be a giveaway that something is off.

"Don't worry, I can simply get rid of it," Jade says. She walks up to the giant crystal, touches it, and after a second or two, the crystal starts to break apart and turn into dust. The dust falls into the Fusion Matter pit, causing its walls to glow due to all the reflected light shining off of it. Then, the crystal pieces disappear into nothingness. That's not the only way she can get rid of crystals she's created, though. She can reabsorb them back into herself as well. But with big crystals like this, it's more efficient to just disintegrate them. Once the crystal's all gone, the only hint there was anything there are slight dents in the pit's walls.

As we continue onward, I find something interesting. It's a fallen-over target stand, but attached to the target itself is a large paper that has one of the KND's adversaries painted on it. That's right: The KND's got adversaries. The one shown here is the blue-jacketed, bald, giant cigar-smoking businessman that is Mr. Boss. Yeah, that's a very clever name you got there. There's other enemies that the Kids Next Door has, ranging from all-around threats like Father to the measly Toiletnator. Yes, that's the name of an actual enemy of the Kids Next Door. Well, that's assuming you can call him an "enemy", as he hasn't done much that's been particularly threatening anyway.

Given how often these villains try to mess up the KND, you'd think that we'd just kidnap these guys, remove their memories of the Kids Next Door and be done with it. But I'm pretty sure the reason we don't is because we like going against these guys and putting them in their place over and over again. It's more fun that way, and gives the KND something to fight. If we didn't, it'd probably be a lot more boring. Also, whether or not they knew about us, they're still evil adults at heart. At least in this case, they're focusing on us instead of the kids who can't help themselves.

Once the other team members make it across, we continue onward through the Training Area. In this area, not many of those problematic Fusion Matter pits are visible. However, there are a few Shocktanglers coming our way. They don't even seem to notice us, though, despite us being right in their line of sight. Any doubt that I had about the **E.G.G.** s disappears instantly. They go right past us as if we aren't even there. One gets so close to me that I can hear the low buzzing coming from it, and I think I feel the static electricity coming off of us. Once the monsters pass by, we move forward.

I should probably use another **E.G.G.** now, just to be safe. After all, the Run **E.G.G.** from before lasted a few minutes, and it's been a couple minutes. For all we know, the Sneak **E.G.G.** ran out just now. I take another Sneak **E.G.G.** and open it, ensuring that I'll be fine.

"Hey, um, 108?" I ask.

"Yeah?" Numbuh 108 says.

"If we close these **E.G.G.** s, will the powers they give eventually come back to it so that we can use them again?"

"I'm not sure, actually," Numbuh 108 says. "If you think that might work, go right ahead. And if it does, let me know immediately."

The distant fighting begins as we pass by another fallen target stand, this time with Knightbrace, the demented dentist, painted on the paper instead. Either the first group has gotten into a struggle with the Shocktanglers from earlier, or the second group's arrived to stop them. No matter what, the battle itself has begun. Almost immediately after the fighting starts, even more Shocktanglers, Fusion Spawns and other monsters appear out of nowhere and start heading down toward where the battle is. While the monsters don't see us, it's problematic to try and avoid them. Our group has to split up and go to opposite sides of the area in order to not run into the monsters by accident. In this moment, I also check the map on my NanoCom to see how my friends are doing, and I can see their icons moving all around the Training Area, some faster than others.

After a minute or so, the first wave finishes passing by us, and we're able to continue. However, we immediately stop when an Eruption Attack happens on the other side of the Infected Zone. Because of the shields, it can't go all the way up into the sky. Rather, because the shields form a dome shope, they change the Eruption blast's path so that it doesn't go upward, but horizontally… in our direction! The Fusion Matter blast starts to fall downward while still moving horizontally, and we run as fast as we can to avoid it. The Fusion Matter slathers the ground almost all around us in random patterns, and there's a lot of it.

"What was that?!" I yell. "How did they know we were-"

"The Fusion Monsters must be trying to form obstacles to slow the others down if they make it up here," Numbuh 108. "Everyone, move! Quickly!"

The sides of this area were nearly untouched by Fusion Matter, and so we run as fast as we can down those sides. Another Eruption attack takes place as we're running, but this time, the shields cause the blast to curve almost all the way around to the other side. Now they must be trying to directly attack the group. I check the holo-map just to see if my friends are alright, and the icons are still moving around. OK, they're good for now. I return my focus to the mission and close the holo-screen as we make our way through an unfinished part of a building, although it's not really one. All the inner walls seem to have been cleared out, making it one large room. There are some things like a TV and couches, which the operatives must use when they're not training. There's even a video gaming system still in there, but now it's covered in dust.

When we reach the end of the building, I can tell that we're close. The Eruption Attacks that are happening are a lot closer now, and I can almost hear the rumbling and bubbling sounds that indicate one is coming. Another blast takes place, and it goes right over us. Yeah, we're definitely close. From what I saw of the schematics prior to this mission, we just gotta go through one more big area before we reach the location of the **M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.T.O.H.**. That place has very few options as for where to go, and so even if Fusion Numbuh Two tries to run, we should be able to find him and take him out.

We enter the (hopefully) penultimate chamber, and within, there's multiple ravines of Fusion Matter that all converge into one giant pool of Fusion Matter in the center. The entrance to the next chamber, however, has been cut off by one of the bigger ravines, and it looks like there are platforms we can cross. But that's nothing compared to the gigantic Shocktangler in this area as well. It's almost times larger than a normal Shocktangler, and that's just in terms of height. Its wire thingies seem to be at least 15 feet long, and they're a darker green color instead of any of the other colors on a Shocktangler. To top all that off, it has six eyes instead of the regular two. Is this meant to be the Super Shocktangler? I'll just call it the Mega-Shocktangler for now because that's what I did with the Cyberus.

The Mega-Shocktangler is hovering around the area in a counter-clockwise fashion, making sure no intruders can get in here. Thankfully, due to this **E.G.G.** , it can't see us. Yet, that is. I have no clue how much longer this **E.G.G.** is gonna last. The Run **E.G.G.** lasted only a couple minutes before, and we've almost reached that deadline. And I know that none of us want to be here when that thing does end up being able to see us.

Most of this area has very little cover, save for another target stand, a few tires, or something else that couldn't provide much cover anyways. It's just ground and Fusion Matter. I don't know how much longer this **E.G.G.** will last, so if we're gonna move through here, we gotta do it fast-

"Come on! Let's go!" Numbuh 108 says, before she starts moving toward the exit. I swear, we have almost the exact same thought processes about these things. We follow her out, of course. She started running right when the Mega-Shocktangler was on the opposite side from the exit, which gives us the most time to get out of here. However, right when we reach the exit, we come across a major problem.

There's only one platform, and the rest are just not there. That platform gave a false promise, and now we might be screwed. Given how long the last **E.G.G.** lasted, this one will wear off really soon. That said, I desperately look around the area to see where else we could go. The first solution- well, probably the only one I'll choose to look at- is an area on the edge of the room where the fence has sunken quite a bit. This happens to be next to a stack of crates that will give us the perfect boost out of here. I think there is space to go there on the outside, as the shields aren't directly in front of the fence here like they were at the entrance.

Without even speaking, I make a beeline toward these crates, hoping the rest will follow suit. I climb the crates as fast as I can, and check the small, narrow area outside the fence to see if it's safe. To my relief, there's no infected ground down this way for a while. The other operatives make it to the crates now, and I quickly motion them to go over to the other side of the fence. As the operatives jump down, I take a look ahead to see if there's anything else we'll have to deal with on the other side. There's no other infected ground, either, so we're good in that regard.

As I'm about to head down over the fence myself, I take a look back to see if the Mega-Shocktangler notices us… And it's staring almost directly at me. I immediately grab my Lightning Gun and get ready to fire, for this is probably going to be one of the most difficult fights- Hold on. It just looked away. And now it's moving normally again. OK, the **E.G.G.** s haven't worn off yet, but they probably will any moment now. I jump down, and land. It's a good thing this fence sunk down a lot, or else this would be a much rougher landing.

"That was too close," I whisper.

"Yeah," Numbuh 108 says. "I was almost certain that Electrotangler was gonna see us."

Electrotangler, huh? Alright, then. "Well, we should be able to go down this way for now. As for everything after… I have no idea. We'll just have to take it as we go, I guess."

We head around the outer edge for a little bit, keeping our eyes and ears open for any possible thing that could come at us. The sounds of battle are constant, and the Eruptions continue to go over to the other side. We need to find a way to stop those so that nothing bad can happen. I check my map again, and see that everyone seems to be moving around. At the least, they're trying to hold a position and keep the monsters back. However, their icons are slowly going backward. The Fusions' Eruption strategy is clearly working, but so is our diversion.

Only around 30 seconds after we started, Numbuh 108, who's leading the way, stops and motions us to also stop. "I can hear him," Numbuh 108 says, putting her ear to the fence. I focus more closely on what's going on past this fence, and I can confirm that I hear his voice. Like Fusion Buttercup's voice, Fusion Numbuh Two's voice sounds similar, but also distorted and creepy. We head down the fence until Fusion Numbuh Two's voice is clearest, but also where the ground starts to get infected and cave in. The fence, however, has caved in more quickly, and has several holes in it that we can use to look in on what they're doing.

 _"Well, they shouldn't get very far after what we've set up."_ Fusion Numbuh Two says next. He must be talking about the diversion groups. I look in and finally see him.

Like every other Fusion, he has green skin and is slightly bigger than his counterpart. I can't see his eyes right now, as he's facing away, but I'm sure they're red. His clothing, unlike Numbuh Two's, lacks almost all color. His shirt's a slightly bluish gray, and his pants are completely black. Instead of being brown, his flight helmet is a dark turquoise. But interestingly, he also has a weird apparatus on his back that use two tennis rackets for something. Maybe it's a KND flight device or something, although I've never seen anything like it before. There are several Shocktanglers in this room as well, guarding what I believe is the storage area. The door is still open, though.

 _"I already have that sorted out,"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says. Who is he talking to? I don't see any monster trying to talk to him. Maybe it's Lord Fuse himself, communicating to Fusion Numbuh Two through the hivemind. _"And based on what we know and have, we should be able to go forward with it with very little obstacles..."_

Go forward with what? What are they planning to do?

 _"...I will be there. But first, I shall delay them just a little longer from reaching this point."_

Fusion Numbuh Two then walks up to a large, red button on the wall, and slams his fist down on it. The moment that he presses it, a loud, stereotypical alarm sound rings out in the area as a machine comes out of the ground in the center of the area. After the dirt clears, a much crazier and more powerful version of a Gatling Gum comes out of the ground.

 _ **"ALERT: MULTIPLE TEENAGERS DETECTED!"**_ the alarm system says, before the turrets turn to directly face us. Fusion Numbuh Two must have tampered with the system to target everyone who's not a Fusion. _**"SURRENDER NOW… OR ELSE!"**_

 _"I had a feeling they would pull something like that,"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says. _"Skip the surrendering. Just kill them."_

Both the turrets and Shocktanglers instantly start firing at where we are, and I don't even have time to think before I dive to the left and hit the floor. The gumballs start breaking through the fence, and Fusion Matter starts coming through the holes. Some of the operatives that didn't get the memo in time are hit and get knocked out. Thankfully, these gumballs don't go anywhere near as fast as bullets whenever they fire, but that doesn't mean they're not dangerous. Some operatives try to fire back, but they immediately start getting targeted. One tries to run back where we came from to try and draw its fire, but he gets knocked out by a gumball to the head instead.

"Numbuh 2! We've been made!" Numbuh 108 screams into her walkie-talkie. "Send immediate backup now-" Another gumball goes through the fence and hits the walkie-talkie directly, breaking it into many different pieces. She scrambles out of the line of fire and closer to the fence. Everyone lies flat on the ground and tries to move as little as possible.

"JADE! FORM A BARRIER!" I say in a panic. She doesn't hesitate to do so, as a layer of crystals come out of the ground and climb up the fence. Any gumballs that try to hit us after that are deflected straight off by the crystals. While the monsters stop firing, the turret continues shooting at the crystal barrier.

"We gotta get to the other side! We don't have much time!" Numbuh 108 says.

"But that turret's gonna stop anyone who even tries to get through!" Jade says. "Who knows how much ammo that thing has left in it!"

"Well, we can't just stay here!"

I know that I need to get out my Nano. I can't see us being able to continue quickly without it. I go into my NanoCom and summon my Buttercup nano. Surrounding her is glowing red fire, but I feel no heat coming off of them. The Blastons Gumball's effects have yet to wear off.

"Do something to stop the turret!" I say, and my Nano doesn't wait a millisecond before zooming through the fence toward it.

 **"Hey, over here! Yeah, you! Come on and fight me over here!"** the Nano says as the turret starts firing away from us and to the right. Then I hear metal breaking and then get slammed into the ground. Now we have the chance to strike. Jade touches a portion of the crystal barrier, and just like that, a part of it big enough for us to fit through immediately turns into powdery dust.

"Go! Go! Go!" Numbuh 108 says as I blast apart the fence's exposed area. As soon as I'm done firing, Numbuh 108 leads the charge into the chamber. The turret may be gone, but there's more Shocktanglers that we need to deal with. My Nano comes down to help us against them, and I don't even need to tell her to attack them before she does it. She zooms right into the main cluster of Shocktanglers and hits a gold-wired one with enough force to create a blast of energy that travels in an almost cone-shaped beam that disorients at least six more of these monsters and knocks them down. Maybe because the gumball I gave her amplified her power, it could also lengthen the amount of time the monsters are stunned as well.

Once my Nano knocks out one Shocktangler, it goes to the next. I follow in her wake, taking out the Shocktanglers that she leaves stunned in her wake. Everyone starts following my strategy and fires at the Shocktanglers while they're down. I'm able to take out at least four of 'em before the final Shocktangler remains. My Buttercup nano charges at it, but it doesn't seem to go down for as long as the first one did. Come to think of it, the blue-wired ones don't go down for nearly as long. The yellow-wired ones were down for at least 10 seconds, while these blue-wired ones are only out for around two or three, at the most. Regardless, we eliminate it.

Before we can even catch a little bit of a break, a loud mix between a buzz and a roar prevents us from such a thing. I think the Electrotangler's finally received word of what's going on. With only one blast, part of the final wall separating this chamber from the Electrotangler's is completely splintered, and the Electrotangler rises up to confront us. It looks at us for a brief moment, and then makes another buzzing roar before starting its attack.

The Electrotangler's Fusion Matter blasts are much bigger and more powerful than the Shocktanglers'. They're even stronger than those that came from the Oil Ogre I encountered in Steam Alley. I narrowly dodge one of them, and the blast it charged up was bigger than me. By that, I mean that the diameter of the energy blast was the same as my height. Everything ahead of that blast gets utterly drenched in Fusion Matter. When the Electrotangler charges up a second blast and narrowly misses another operative, it hits the **M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.T.O.H.** and actually punches a hole in its outer armor. Heck, it nearly goes through it. And when it's not blasting us, it tries to use its super-long wires to either try to grab and throw us around or strike us. One operative gets too close and gets thrown into the air behind it.

The Electrotangler then starts to target where the hurt/unconscious are. We kept them hidden behind the other wall in hopes that the other monsters would attack us instead, but clearly this one isn't falling for it. When it tries to charge up another blast, we blast it with everything we got. My Nano also flies over to help, but before she can do anything, something else zooms into the Electrotangler. Whatever it was that attacked the Electrotangler just now, it pushed it with enough force to send it into the storage building, to the point that the part of the building caves in a little. The zooming thing finally becomes clear when it goes down to us and stops. Andrew.

"Mark! Are you alright?" Andrew says. "Numbuh Five and Numbuh Two ordered us all to start attacking head-on and stop the diversion plan."

"Yeah, they found out we were here and things kinda went south," I say.

"How? I thought you had the Sneak **E.G.G.** s."

"The Fusions activated an extra security measure in this place that found us while we were trying to spy on them-"

The building starts to rumble, and the Electrotangler gets up, ready to attack again. My Nano zooms at it, but the Electrotangler immediately blasts at her with Fusion Matter, completely reversing her direction and slamming her into the ground. Right after, I get another alert on my NanoCom:

 _"Warning! Your Buttercup Nano is running low on energy!_

 _Use a **Nano Potion**?"_

Well, obviously yes! I click **"YES"** as soon as the option pops up, and another holographic animation appears of my Nano as it receives a glass beaker that's filled with a glowing red liquid. Again, with the red. She drinks the potion, and her "energy bar" almost instantly fills up. She then starts punching the Electrotangler again like nothing happened. Andrew joins in as well, and he's doing a ton of damage.

Andrew blasts himself upward to attack the Electrotangler as well. Like with one of the Shocktanglers from earlier, Andrew rips out some of its wires. But this time, though, he starts swinging them around and hitting it with them. Because of the speed at which he does this, it starts getting sliced up pretty bad by its own wires. It tries to grab Andrew in order to swing him around, but I shoot those wires so that it can't do that.

As the Buttercup nano and Andrew hold the Electrotangler off, the rest of us head to the storage area's entrance. I blast the lock off and try to open the door, but it won't budge. I push and pull the door, and neither way works. There must be something the Fusions put on the other side that's stopping the door from opening. Well, if we can't open it the conventional way, we'll have to break it down.

"Everyone fire on the door!" I say, and we do just that. We unload all we can on the door and the walls around it to try and break through. Despite the fortifications on the door, it is no match for bolts of energy.

I look back up at Andrew as the door finally begins to break away, and he's still holding his own very well against the Electrotangler. But it looks like he won't need to go it alone anymore, as the Electrotangler starts getting pelted with gumballs from a Gatling Gum that's on our side this time. Finally, when the Electrotangler turns around to deal with whoever did that, a giant crystal flies at it and tears straight through it. Now I know for certain those are my friends. The Electrotangler falls and because of its size, collapses through the roof and into whatever the storage area is. OK, we gotta move now before something happens to the materials.

As we enter the room, we find the inside to be a LOT more infected than the outside. There is absolutely no resemblance to a storage room anywhere in here. The ground's literally sunken further and further down into the Earth until it's at least 20 feet down from the entrance. A giant Terrafuser is at the other end, much bigger than any one I've seen so far, and its roots spread all throughout the room. Some of them even went over the door, it seems, and those were the fortifications made. There are many smaller Terrafusers in here as well.

Fusion Numbuh Two is on the other side of the room, along with a few more Shocktanglers and… something else. I have no idea what that is. It's a circle of vines on the floor that are constantly shifting around each other, but the circle itself never moves. The part of the ground that the circle contains what at first looks like Fusion Matter, but is also spiraling downward into something. At the same time, weird, long tendrils of Fusion Matter are coming from the sides of the spiral. These tendrils have wrapped themselves along a couple Mandark Industries-branded crates, and are dragging them toward it. Those must be the crates with the materials!

 _"It was only a matter of time,"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says as a ball of Fusion energy begins to form in his hand. _"But it doesn't matter. You won't be getting these pieces now."_

"Yes, we will," Andrew says, jumping down through the hole the Electrotangler just made and lands without a hitch. He smirks at Fusion Numbuh Two, then zips for the tendrils. He blasts at some of those that hold one of the crates, grabs it and throws it up to us. But then he becomes occupied with the tendrils and blasts them off of him when they try to grab him.

The Shocktanglers move in front of Fusion Numbuh Two in an attempt to block the shots we're firing. The Nano starts taking out the Shocktanglers like the rest of 'em, but Fusion Numbuh Two's got a different trick up his sleeve. The ball of Fusion energy that he had stored in his hand suddenly changes color from green to blue, and becomes even brighter in the process. At the same time, it makes a creepy noise, almost like a vocalization. After two seconds of charging this up, he throws the ball of blue energy, and it locks directly on to my Buttercup nano. It chases it around for a few seconds, and the instant it connects, my Buttercup nano spins out of control and is sent across the room. She tries to get up, but falls unconscious. She turns back into energy and returns to my NanoCom.

OK, I have no clue what Fusion Numbuh Two did, but whatever it was could be a serious problem. If it took out my Supercharged Nano in one hit, who knows who it could do to us! I focus all my attention on Fusion Numbuh Two right afterwards. He takes a hit or two, but soon he fights back with some tricks of his own. He throws a small ball out to us that upon hitting the ground, explodes in a flash of light. The flash is so bright we can't do anything but shield our eyes.

I hear Andrew zap more things, before something hits the ground. "Hey!" Andrew says, before blasting more things. I feel him zip by me, but then he starts screaming. As the light wears off, I can see what just happened. Fusion Numbuh Two just did something to Andrew! What looks like a needle has been injected into Andrew's right arm, at one of the points where his armor has yet to be patched up. Small bolts of energy are coming out of Andrew's body and into the needle. That thing has got to be siphoning the energy from him!

 _"What do you think we were doing as you prepared your mission?"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says as he holds Andrew, who's starting to wince in pain from his energy being drained from him. _"Nothing? Nah… We were doing the exact same thing! I was planning to use that on Buttercup, but using it on you was worth it-"_

Jade pounces onto Fusion Numbuh Two and starts biting and clawing into Fusion Numbuh Two's arm in an attempt to go him to let go. This works, as Andrew gets thrown off toward me.

 _ **"GET OFF ME, YOU FREAK!"**_ Fusion Numbuh Two yells as he grabs onto Jade and throws her as fast as he can up the room. Jade uses her flying powers to redirect her velocity back toward where she came from, this time at even more full-force. She flies over my head as I scramble over to Andrew, who's desperately trying to get this arm-band off of him.

 **"It's draining me!"** Andrew screams as he attempts to blast the device off of him, but he can't muster the power to do so. Well, Andrew, I've got some of your energy, still. I'll see if it can break it. I aim my Lightning Gun directly at the arm-band and shoot it. It doesn't take long to break. I check the point where his arm was injected, and it doesn't look like it was injected too deep. There's a red liquid around where Andrew was injected, but I don't necessarily think that's all blood. If Fusion Numbuh Two said he was gonna use it on Buttercup, that might be some of the Antidote X left over from what was taken in Tech Square.

As the other operatives and Jade attack Fusion Numbuh Two and his last couple monsters, he tries to run for the tendril-circle. But I'm not gonna let him try after what he did to my brother. I blast at Fusion Numbuh Two over and over again, but right when I think he's done for, Fusion Numbuh Two grabs Jade and uses her as a shield. Her crystalline body perfectly reflects my last few blasts, and one of them gets redirected right into the gun. The initially cracked glass porthole takes the brunt of the blast, and the energy that was initially in there starts to spill out as one continuous blast. To make the most of it, I orient the gun in my hands so that the blast goes toward Fusion Numbuh Two and his monsters. While Fusion Numbuh Two reflects most of it, some of it actually hits the remaining monsters. After that, though, the energy stops coming out. My Lightning Gun's out again, and this time, it might be the last time.

Jade claws once more into Fusion Numbuh Two's arms, this time even deeper than before. This makes Fusion Numbuh Two let go of her. When Jade lands on the ground, she dig her claws in the dirt. When the crystals start forming near Fusion Numbuh Two's feet, I know her exact plan. She's gonna trap Fusion Numbuh Two so that we can kill him more easily. However, just before that can happen, Fusion Numbuh Two activates his flight device. It starts making the loud noises that a lawnmower would usually make, and then the tennis rackets start moving back and forth. Soon, they move so fast that Fusion Numbuh Two hovers up, then takes off.

Fusion Numbuh Two starts flying around the room at a crazy fast speed, so quickly that we can barely focus on him. Even so, I can tell where he is in the room at all times because of the constant lawnmower noises coming from it. The operatives try to aim at him, but he's almost always able to dodge. He has so much control over where he flies that I'm both impressed and frustrated. A much weaker attack comes from Andrew, but I know it's not safe for him to be here anymore, particularly after literally being drained of his energy.

"Jade! Forget Fusion Numbuh Two! Get over here to help Andrew!" I say. Jade stops and flies to both of us without question. She checks where Andrew was injected

"Andrew! Are you OK?" I ask as Andrew looks to me and Jade. He's a little pale, but not so much that it could be problematic.

"...Yeah," Andrew says. "I just feel… drained. I don't think it did anything truly harmful to me, as far as I know."

"Don't worry, Andrew. You don't need to do much else."

"But I wanna help!"

"You have, a lot. You can take a rest now. We'll deal with Fusion Numbuh Two."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"But first, I need to seal that Fusion Portal," Jade says. Like what she was trying to do with Fusion Numbuh Two before, crystals start to form all around the hole. OK, so that is the Fusion Portal. I had a feeling it was 'cause of the whole "inward spiral" thing, but I wasn't entirely sure. The tendrils try to fight back against being trapped, but Jade swoops in to attack them and push them back so that she can finish sealing the dome that she's formed around it. "Nothing will be coming through now."

One of Fusion Numbuh Two's blasts lands directly between me and Jade. "OK, get Andrew outta here now!" I say. Jade picks up Andrew and starts flying out through the whole in the ceiling in order to bring him to relative safety. Now that Andrew's safe, I start re-focusing on the situation at hand. Fusion Numbuh Two is still flying all about, and is actually doing well against the other operatives. For instance, he just grabbed a box and threw it right into an operative who was occupied with avoiding the blast he also just sent. Then he swoops down, grabs weapons from an abandoned crate in the corner and proceeds to use them against us.

Jade comes back through the hole in the roof to help assist us in our battle. She immediately goes for Fusion Numbuh Two, and gets grabbed before she can fly into his face. She proceeds to thrash around and bite into Fusion Numbuh Two's hand and fingers as he scrambles through a crate he's nearby. _"I've got just the thing for you,"_ he says as he grabs a weapon out of the box and fires it at Jade. Out of the gun comes… a mouse toy. That weapon's got to be a **K.A.T.N.I.P.P.U.H.** , the ultimate cat distraction tool. This could be problematic, considering that Jade still possesses a good amount traits that cats have. These include purring, seeing things that seemingly aren't there, and being affected by catnip. The mouse toy bursts open upon hitting Jade, and she gets covered in the stuff. When the rest of it goes down to the floor, she flies down at once to sniff it and roll in it. This is usually the point where she goes crazy.

"Jade, are you alright?" I say.

"Markwhatshappening," Jade says before pouncing at nothing. She then pounces at nothing again. Her eyes are extremely dilated. Then she pounces on the wall and starts walking up it. "Theresathingoverthere. Brightperson. Gottagocheckitout."

She wanders down the wall until a Fusion Matter blast hits the wall in front of her. After several more hit the wall afterwards, Jade starts to freak out. Her defensive form turns all spiky and prickly, which is her second line of defense in most cases. **"BATTLEBATTLE! WHEREAREYOUMARK?!"**

"I'm over here!" I yell, and Jade dives toward me, but completely misses. She goes through the wall and ends up flying elsewhere in confusion. Who knows what she's gonna do next. Regardless, I'm in a definite pickle now. My Lightning Gun's been wrecked, Jade's going who-knows-where, Andrew can't do anything right now, and my Nano still has a minute or two to recharge. I can't afford to wait around because if I do, Fusion Numbuh Two's gonna wreck all of us. I mean, I do have the sword, but that's not exactly the most practical thing to use against him. But hey, it's better than nothing.

While Fusion Numbuh Two is turned away and fighting off another operative, I sneak up behind him and attempt to stab him. When he starts to turn around, I jump at him, knowing that this is the only chance I'll have to attack him with it. My sword cuts through part of Fusion Numbuh Two's flight apparatus, and it sparks as my sword jams into Fusion Numbuh Two's side.

Fusion Numbuh Two screeches as he suddenly takes off backwards, but with my sword in him still. I get pulled back with him, and both of us fly all the way to the other end of the room. I let go so that I can land on the floor instead of hitting the wall like Fusion Numbuh Two ends up doing. He hits the wall at such an angle that the Lightning Sword goes even deeper into him as a result. He lands and starts to pull the sword out of him. He's still got some energy to go on.

When Fusion Numbuh Two finishes taking out the sword, he immediately targets somebody to attack with it. And that target is Numbuh 108. _"This is for those terrible jokes you made!"_ he says as he takes a moment to ready his aim, and then throws the sword straight at her. I run to see if I can intercept the sword's trajectory and take it, but I'm unable to reach it in time. Numbuh 108 tries to dodge, but the sword still hits her and slices into her side.

"108!" I yell as she falls to the floor. I run to Fusion Numbuh Two and start attacking him hand-to-hand in an effort to distract him for long enough that Numbuh 108 can get out. However, every punch that lands on his exposed Fusion skin causes my hands to hurt from the acidic burn. He doesn't even bother looking at me as he hits me square in the face and knocks me back onto the ground. I drift in and out for a few moments before I wake up fully again. Now I feel that burning feeling all over my face.

The other operatives who aren't unconscious rush to defend Numbuh 108 and get her and the other hurt operatives out of the main chamber, but as they pick her up, Fusion Numbuh Two starts making the ground under them all an Eruption Zone. Everyone panics and scrambles in response to this. Some try to blast Fusion Numbuh Two, some try to run, and others try to pick up Numbuh 108 and get her out of the Eruption Zone. They're able to make it close to the exit, but Fusion Numbuh Two gets a direct hit afterward on those trying to help Numbuh 108 out. Those who are attacking him are hit with another wave right after. They fall on the ground and barely have the strength to get back up. Soon, their instincts of self-preservation take over and they just try to get out of there.

I get up and stumble toward my Lightning Sword, not trying to attract attention from Fusion Numbuh Two. He probably knows what I'm doing, but is way more focused on the others rather than me. I jump over the puddles of Fusion Matter that have been created from all the blasts, and pick up my sword. I turn around, and Fusion Numbuh Two now has his sights on Numbuh 108 again. She grips her side tight with one hand as her armor there turns red. With the other, she starts using her **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** to blast every teddy bear she can at him. While they disrupt his focus a little, not much else happens to him. He floats right up to her until he stands directly above her.

 _"My counterpart's jokes aren't so funny now, are they?"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says as he reforms around ball of Fusion Matter energy in between both of his hands.

"Ugh… Maybe," Numbuh 108 says, shrugging. "But hey, I find them rather _**infectious**_."

Fusion Numbuh Two pauses, and the ball of Fusion energy gets reabsorbed into him. The look on his face is nothing but one of pure exasperation.

 _"...Are you serious?"_ he says. _"You're gonna waste your last words on THAT?! **THAT WAS EVEN WORSE THAN THE OTHER ONES YOU'VE DONE! THAT DIDN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!"**_

"What do you mean?" I say. "Are you just con **fused**?"

 _"YOU TOO?"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says. _"Y-You're really going to do this?"_

"Yep."

 _"...No. No, no, no! I refuse to accept-"_

"Ha! You re **fuse** to accept it?" Fusion Numbuh Two's face is getting angrier by the second. This is probably a horrible idea, because he'll snap and try to kill us all if I go to far, but… to be honest, this is utterly hilarious. Even then, this is distracting him long enough for the others to get out of the room.

"What, can you not BEAR it?" Numbuh 108 says, flaunting the front of her **T.H.U.M.P.E.R.** at Fusion Numbuh Two.

 _"Wha- That doesn't even have a bear in there!"_

"Well, then I guess it **bear** -ly made any sense to begin with."

Fusion Numbuh Two just stares at Numbuh 108 for a second before immediately forming a ball of Fusion Matter in his hand. OK, the fun and games are over now. I need to make sure I'm ready for what comes next.

 _"You're not going to die quickly,"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says, picking Numbuh 108 up and holding her against the wall. "I'll bring you back with me to the House, and words will not be able to describe what we will do to you then-"

"Hey!" I say as I activate my NanoCom. Based on what Fusion Numbuh Two has said, I think he's just one pun away from utterly losing it. I think that if he loses it, he'll become harder, but also easier to take down. What I mean by that is, he'll probably want to kill me more than ever when he breaks, but at the same time, he'll be so focused on killing me that he won't think straight. He'll end up slipping, maybe enough for us to be able to defeat him. A bonus of this could potentially be that he unintentionally reveals some things to us. He already mentioned the _"House"_ , whatever that is, so maybe we can get more out of him, at the least. And maybe losing his cool will make not think straight and become more vulnerable.

 _"WHAT?"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says.

"Well, I was just gonna say that you really are different from Numbuh Two. You're really bitter, actually. At everything. Including jokes. And it's turned you into a big bomb of Fusion rage that's waiting to explode at any second."

Fusion Numbuh Two isn't even sure how to react to what I'm saying. If anything, he's absolutely confused. Numbuh 108 smirks, because she knows exactly where I'm going with this. _"OK? Your point? Wait… NO! DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT-"_

"All I'm sayin' is, we need to de **fuse** you."

 ** _"OH, THAT IS IT!"_** Fusion Numbuh Two screams as he takes out two blasters. **_"I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOU!"_**

Fusion Numbuh Two starts firing as I dive behind the crystal dome surrounding the Fusion Portal. Fusion Matter splatters all over this side of it, but given Jade's crystals are pretty much indestructible, I don't worry about that. Despite that, I need something to help me fight back against him, because sooner or later, if I do nothing, I know he's gonna kill me. I briefly check my Buttercup nano's energy level to see if she'll be able to battle. It looks like it, as her energy level is around a third, but there's one problem: It's not super-charged by the Blastons gumball anymore. Well, it was still powerful without one of those anyways. I summon my Buttercup nano and instantly give her another Nano Potion to restore her to maximum energy.

The revving of a lawnmower starts up again. I try to look through the crystals, but the refracting crystals, Fusion Matter tendrils beneath them and the Fusion Matter covering the other side all makes it basically impossible to see him. The sound gets closer, and my Buttercup nano already knows most of what she needs to do. I duck down and start crawling as quickly as I can around the edge of the crystal dome as Fusion Numbuh Two reaches it. Then someone gets punched, and I jump up and start running to Numbuh 108, who's right on my path to the door. I turn around for a brief moment and see Fusion Numbuh Two is on the ground, dazed. But not for long, I assume.

"Come on!" I say as I reach my hand out to Numbuh 108. She grabs it and gets up as quickly as she can. We don't even say anything until we start running.

"That was a good one," Numbuh 108 says, referring to my "defuse" pun. "I think that bought our teammates enough time to get away and call out for help." She then winces when we go up one of the steeper slopes, and my attention is drawn to her side again. Yeah, that wound looks bad. We need to do something to help it. But first, we need to get out-

 ** _"Nope!"_** Fusion Numbuh Two says, before the entrance area gets blasted with Fusion Matter several times. Even so, we don't stop moving. Just stepping in a thin layer of Fusion Matter shouldn't hurt too much for too long. The lawnmower sounds get even closer, and soon so close that it's right behind us. A large hand grabs me and throws me away from the entrance, but my Nano catches me. Fusion Numbuh Two going after the limping Numbuh 108, who's not able to run as quickly as she could due to her wound.

 _"You think that what you're doing here will change anything? Well, guess what? It's all pointless!"_ Fusion Numbuh Two screams. He's moving a lot more sporadically, and he's shaking. He must be really weakened.

"Wait, what are you talking about?!" I say, turning his attention back to me and my Nano. Fusion Numbuh Two simply chuckles, and says:

 _"Just open those crates and you'll understand why,"_ Fusion Numbuh Two says with a malevolent smile, pointing his finger to one of the crates that the materials are in. Wait… did he do something to them? What did he do? Is he trying to play mind games, to mess with my head so that _I'm_ not thinking straight? No, I can't let him do that. He won't fool me today. Numbuh 108 isn't fooled either, as while he's not looking, she blasts him right in the back of the head. Immediately, his attitude changes from cunning to furious, and he doesn't even waste time before blasting Numbuh 108.

 _"You know what? Screw the plans I had for you earlier! You're just going to-"_

While he's distracted, my Nano zooms up and bops him right on the head. With both these factors combined, I have plenty of time to run up to him and start slicing and stabbing at him over and over again. Given how most of the other Shocktanglers lasted for a few seconds, I stab him as rapidly as possible to get the most damage in before he can recover.

In this brief moments, I target this lawnmower-tennis flight device in particular, enough for it to break apart. In a panic, Fusion Numbuh Two starts thrashing about to try and get me off of him, but I continue holding. Gripping onto the lawnmower base of what was once his flight apparatus with one hand, I repeatedly stab Fusion Numbuh Two with the other. All the while, my Buttercup Nano continues to hit him, making it harder for him to fight back against me. I think I stab him at least 10 times before he manages to blast me off of him. But when I get up and look at him, it's clear I did some major damage to him. The Fusion Matter that makes him up seems to be slightly less cohesive, and more of it's dripping to the ground instead of sticking together. I think only a few more hits are needed to take him down.

Fusion Numbuh Two starts to charge up that weird blue attack of his again. I still don't know exactly what that is, but it's a big danger to my Nano. However, it looks like he has to use a lot of energy to use it, which gives me time to hurt him a few times. I think this is our chance to stop him, but it might be our only chance.

"WRECK HIM!" I yell, and my Buttercup nano, despite the danger, zooms right into Fusion Numbuh Two and punches him square in the face. His flight glasses break, and his flight helmet flies right off and lands in front of me. Now that I see it more, his flight helmet's got a backwards "2" on it. I run right up to him as he manages to blast the blue attack at the Buttercup nano. Despite my Buttercup nano getting hit directly, it gave me the perfect opportunity to stab him more. With every stab now, the Fusion Matter that makes him up becomes less and less stable. He tries to do one last stand by hitting me with another final blast of Fusion Matter, but it doesn't matter at this point. I get the final stab in, and at that point, he starts to truly break down.

I pull the sword out, which is now drenched in Fusion Matter. But it starts zapping it off much like the rest, which should mean that the Fusion Matter won't mess it up too much. Fusion Numbuh Two struggles to get back up, but soon realizes that it's not working and falls to the floor for good. He looks up at me, and just before his red eyes go out, he smiles again with that same grin that he had when talking about the "surprise" he left in the crates. Then, like every Fusion or Fusion Monster I've killed, he just collapses into a puddle of Fusion Matter.

...We did it. Fusion Numbuh Two is gone. That's the second Fusion that I've beaten here, and I have a feeling it may not be the last. Despite that, I think I'll be taking a short break from all this fighting. I have no idea how short said break is gonna be; It may be a few days, or even just a few hours. Even if the latter is the case, I'll take it.

Unlike the last time the blue attack was used on her, my Nano is pulling through. I imagine her energy level, however, is really low. That being said, I quickly use a Nano Potion on her and then head over to Numbuh 108. She's next to the entrance, trying to fix herself up. The wound still looks bad, though.

"Hey, Nano!" I say. "You were able to heal me before, at least a little. Are you able to heal her, too?"

"Well, yeah," my Nano says. "I can heal any of you if they're near you, but I'll make sure the people you know are prioritized."

"Well, I know her, so... Heal us both."

Similar to what she did with me, she charges up an energy wave and then blasts it at both of us, crying out some form of battle cry as she does it. Both of us feel that same feeling that I got when my Nano healed me earlier, and I can visibly see her wound start to heal much more rapidly. In hindsight, I probably should've given her a gumball prior to doing this, but even without one, it's helping a lot. It stops the bleeding, at least. I'm sure any bruises and cuts that I've got are also healing just as well.

"Thanks," Numbuh 108 says.

"No probl-"

 **"HOLD ON, MARK! WE'RE COMING!"** I hear Evan say in the distance, right before he and tons of other people come through the entrance. The Fusion Matter is of little concern to them. Of these people, my friends make up a good amount of them. They're all armed to the teeth and ready to fire at anything that they think is here. For example, Evan's Gatling Gum is fully revved up. To everyone's surprise, the room only has me, Numbuh 108 and a lot of Fusion Matter puddles, the second biggest of which is still spreading out.

"We already got him, guys," I say.

"Oh," Evan says, his Gatling Gum now revving back down. "That works, I guess. Are you alright?"

"Now that my Nano's healed us a bit, we're a lot more alright, that's for sure."

"...Your Nano can do that? Could it do that to us?"

"I think so." I turn to my Nano. "Heal away."

My Nano smirks and nods before she charges up and fires another healing wave at my friends. I don't know exactly what happened to them, but regardless, they visibly feel better.

"Whoo…" Lucas says. "Yo, everyone else! Come over here to feel better-"

My NanoCom starts to make another sound. The same exact sound that it made after I killed Fusion Buttercup. I've never heard this sound since then in my whole usage of this NanoCom so far, but to be fair, I have only used it for a little more than a day, so that could change. But based on what I know, this could mean something very cool. I look to screen just to make sure if I'm right in my thoughts, and the same exact holo-screen as before is there:

 **ALL KEY COMPONENTS FOR NANO CREATION IDENTIFIED**

 **WOULD YOU LIKE TO A CREATE ANOTHER NANO?**

 **YES / NO**

"Dude! You're getting _another_ Nano?" Lucas says. "That's so awesome! Press **YES**! Press it!"

"I'm almost jealous of you, heh," Evan says. "But still, press that **YES**!"

I oblige my friends' requests, even though I was gonna press it anyway. The small laser comes out of the NanoCom and beams into the Fusion Matter puddle that Fusion Numbuh Two used to be. On closer inspection, the goo puddle clears away in the middle to reveal a flight helmet very much like Numbuh Two's. Like before, the **"NANO CREATION PROGRESS"** meter starts slowly filling up, and the Fusion Matter and flight levitate up into the air. The flight helmet becomes re-submerged in the Fusion Matter as it starts to get more and more condensed into a ball and glow. After the pulsating rings go out and converge back into the glowing ball, there's a flash of light, and my newly created Numbuh Two nano appears before us.

"Hello!" the Numbuh Two nano says, waving to us. We all wave back just to be polite.

"Hi," I say as my Buttercup Nano floats up to my newest Nano.

"Sup?" my Buttercup nano says as the two Nanos fist-bump. "Welcome to the Nano Club. Well, I was actually the only member up until that point, so that doesn't make any sense, actually…"

"So I'm your second Nano?" he says, to which I nod. "Heh, that fits me rather well, actually. I'm **Nano Number Two!** "

He spins around and then holds up two fingers to hammer the joke in. Literally not even a minute after I've created him, and he's already started cracking bad jokes. We either laugh, cringe, or do something in the middle. I guess I should've expected as much from a Nano of him. But I think I've had my share of puns for the day… OK, maybe for a few days. But I imagine that pun will not be the last from my Nano. After I call back both my Nanos into my NanoCom, I tell everyone that we need to get the Mandark Industries crates back to the Treehouse as soon as possible. I'd rather avoid another ambush and have to fight for these materials all over again. But first, we need to find Jade so that she can come back.

 **"Jade!"** I start yelling out as I go outside. **"Jade, where are you?"** We search for a couple minutes before finally finding her inside the broken-down and damaged **M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.T.O.H.** , of all places. Some of the lights are still on in there and blinking. Every time Jade sees one of those lights, she grabs it and sometimes claws into it. At this rate, she's gonna run out of lights to break.

"Markareyouinhere?!" Jade says. "Are you inhere?!"

"I'm over here!" I say. She turns around, her eyes still dilated.

"Ithink… therewascatnip inwhat he had."

"Well, Fusion Numbuh Two's been destroyed, so he won't be a problem anymore."

"Cool! Cool, cool, cool! So we're... goin' back?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Once the catnip that was affecting Jade starts wearing off, she comes back and we start to make the journey back to the Treehouse. Like most cats, she starts to get tired after the catnip wears off, but she promises to stay awake right up until we get out of the Infected Zone. While initially worrying about how we'll get these heavy crates back, hovering Mandroids come over to help lift the crates for us and take them back. Then when they get outside, Buttercup takes them the rest of the way.

After taking the long way back to the Warp Gate, I see Andrew hanging out with Gumball, Anais and Penny.

"And you should've seen when I hit the Electrotangler with that- Mark!" Andrew says, before running over to me. He runs over to me much more slowly than usual- Actually, I can't really say "usually" considering that even when most of his energy's sapped, he's still running fast.

"You OK still, Andrew?" I ask.

"Yep. I think I can still get the energy I lost back. It'll just take a while, but I'm sure that us just hanging out will replenish it much faster."

"Well, I know the perfect way to start." I smirk and go to my NanoCom's nano selection screen. When the Nanos pop up, the middle disc has changed. Its top is now glowing a dim blue, and the Numbuh Two nano is hovering above it. When Andrew sees my new Nano, he reacts just like I expected.

 **"WHOA! YOU HAVE A NEW NANO?!"** He starts to spark again with excitement.

"Yep."

"OK, as soon as we get back to the Treehouse, we gotta test this Nano out and see what it can do!"

"Yeah, and then I'm gonna finish up Andrew's suit entirely," Anais says. "What happened could've been worse had it not been for Mark being there."

"Even so, I took a hit for Buttercup and probably saved her from losing her powers," Andrew says. "Anyway- ...Uh, guys? Jade's asleep."

Once Andrew stops talking, I can hear the purring. I turn to the source and see Jade's curled up into a ball and fallen asleep. To top it all off, she's still in her crystal form. That's gonna make it hard to get her back. We weighed her once when she was in that form just to see what it was, and it was a whopping 83 pounds! And it's not like she was bigger or anything, all she did was change into that form. Crystals are so much denser than cats. With this in mind, we try to find something we can use to carry her in without completely messing up ourselves. Sure, we could all carry her, but it'll still be awkward. Thankfully, Andrew found a small wagon that we can put her in so that it isn't as difficult. Once we eventually get the wagon over to a SCAMPER, we come across Numbuh 108 and Numbuh Two.

"Hey, Mark!" Numbuh Two says. "108 here's telling me that you got a Nano of me now!"

"Yep," I say. "Looks like I've got two Nanos now."

"Heh... I would make a joke about that, but I bet your new Nano already made it."

"Actually, he did." I chuckle. "Anyway, I guess we'll be going back now?"

"Of course. We'll be bringing all you guys back. Well, Numbuh 108's gonna head back to the outpost for a bit, just in case something else goes down in the Training Area."

"By the way, Numbuh Two, can you get the ramp for the SCAMPER out?"

"I think I do. Why?"

In response, I simply look over to my friends, who are still trying to get the wagon over here. Evan and Lucas are pulling on the handle, and Amanda and Gumball are both pushing, and only then are they able to move it at a normal pace. Numbuh Two goes in and activates the process for unfolding the entrance ramp. Now, we'll be able to get the wagon with Jade up into the SCAMPER without having to lift her again. Once we finally get her inside, we're able to get going.

"See ya, Mark!" Numbuh 108 says as we're about to take off. The entrance ramp folds back in and the door closes, and we start going back up to the Treehouse. On the way up there, something off goes down. As I'm looking at it, I see what looks like a box get thrown at a really high velocity out of one the rooms and into the air. Moments later, it explodes, sending Fusion Matter going in every direction.

"What in the..." Andrew says, looking where I am. "You saw that too, right, Mark?"

"Yeah! Numbuh Two, did you see that?"

Numbuh Two then gets a call on his NanoCom. He answers, and I hear Mandark's voice on the other side.

"Numbuh Two, we got a major problem!" Mandark says.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Numbuh Two asks.

"We just checked the crates. The materials...

They aren't there."

* * *

 _ **? ? ?**_

 _"They tried to pull their own diversion, but we pulled our own on them. It'd be stupid to have the materials stay in the Training Area where the Kids Next Door could easily get them back. No... we brought them here instead. My- Well, my counterpart's former abode. But not it belongs to us now. And while it's a shame Fusion Numbuh Two is gone, that's left plenty of opportunity for me. Now, it seems I'll be the one spearheading the new project that we have in the works..."_

 _"You do know I can hear you, right?"_ asks the Fusion right next to me, his voice as monotonic as a text-to-speech program.

 _"Well, it's true,"_ I say as I turn to him. _"Regardless, he was a great help in deciding the direction it will go now."_

 _"That is if they don't find us first. I calculate the minimum odds of them knowing what 'The House' is at a current 52.7% chance of success,"_ says Fusion Robot as we walk down the hallway toward where the Fusion Portal is. _"And it'll almost certainly be more."_

 _"I already have plans in place to lower that probability."_ We arrive at the room where we've linked our Fusion Portals to the others across the world. Outside the portal that was linked to the Kids Next Door Training Area are a slew of crates full of exactly what they need, but are now in our hands. But we're not gonna destroy them. _Oh, no... "We have bigger plans for them, plans so big that even if they try to stop us, it won't matter... Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha-_

 _"You're doing it again!"_

 _"Shut up..."_


End file.
